I feel that in my novel I'm trying to re-address that imbalance and allow people to see that Norma Jeane was quite sensitive and intelligent, ... She read a great deal, she tried to write poetry. She was hoping to be a serious actress. But in a sense, it was too late because the American public just wanted the stereotype from her.

Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates

Related Quotes

See, people come into your life for a reason. They might not know it themselves, why. You might not know it. But there's a reason. There has to be

— Joyce Carol Oates

Lots of people I was starting to hate who I used to like a lot. But when you like people, you can hurt. I'd made a few mistakes with girl friends, and one or two guys I'd thought were my buddies, and I wouldn't make these mistakes again.

— Joyce Carol Oates

But he doesn't love her. I invented that. It is a plot if you imagine people in love--the lazy looping criss crosses of love, blows, stares, tears. No. It doesn't happen. No love. People meet, touch, stare into one another's faces, shake their heads clear, move on, forget. It doesn't happen.

— Joyce Carol Oates

Writers and artists never pay attention to advice given by their elders, quite rightly. The only worthwhile advice is the most general: 'Keep trying, don't give up, don't be discouraged, don't pay attention to detractors.' Everyone knows this.

— Joyce Carol Oates

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The - the sort of thing that I want to do is to strike a resonant chord of universality in other people, which is best done by fiction.

— Joyce Carol Oates