My two favorite essays in Soul at the White Heat are “‘The King of the Weird’: H. P. Lovecraft” and “Simenons.” Joyce Carol Oates has edited a collection of Lovecraft stories, Tales of H. P. Lovecraft (Harper, 2007). Oates’s insights into Lovecraft’s work reveal her analysis of his method and then Oates contrasts Lovecraft with Poe in detail. In “Simenons,” Oates again shows she’s done her homework. She mentions a number of Georges Simenon’s works, but focuses on a few titles–like Three Bedrooms in Manhattan and Monsieur Monde Vantishes–for in-depth review. However, Oates can’t help mentioning that urban legend that Simenon had sex with 10,000 women. The other essays in this collection are fun to read. Oates always has something startling to say about the creative process. If you’re looking for a volume of intelligent essays, I recommend Soul at the White Heat. I’ve reviewed another of Joyce Carol Oates books on this blog here. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
I. The writing life
Is the uninspired life worth living?
This I believe : five motives for writing
Anatomy of a story
The writing room
II. Classics
My life in Middlemarch Rebecca Mead
Charles Dickens : a life : Claire Tomalin
“The King of Weird” : H.P. Lovecraft
My faraway one : selected letters of Georgia O’Keefe and Alfred Stieglitz
Simenons
Two American prose masters : Ellison, Updike
A visit with Doris Lessing (1973)
III. Contemporaries
The childhood of Jesus : J.M. Coetzee
The detective as visionary : Derek Raymond
“Catastrophe in art” : Julian Barnes
“When the legend becomes fact” : Larry McMurtry
Paper losses : Lorrie Moore
Emotion of man and animals : Karen Joy Fowler
Wiindigoo justice : Louise Erdrich
In other worlds : Margaret Atwood
The storyteller of the “shattered personality” : Patrick McGrath
Why be happy when you could be normal? : Jeanette Winterson
Diminished things : Anne Tyler
Smiling woman : Margaret Drabble
The inventions of Jerome Charyn
“After Auschwitz” : Martin Amis
London NW : Zadie Smith
Joan Didion : risk and triumph
Unflinching about women : the short stories of Lucia Berlin
Edna O’Brien : The little red chairs
“Disputed truth” : Mike Tyson
The fighter : a film by David O. Russell
The mystery of Muhammad Ali
IV. Real life
A visit to San Quentin (2011).
Have always liked Oates, especially her short stories. Will have to check this out.
Steve, Joyce Carol Oates is a thoughtful essayist. I always come away from reading her short stories with wonderment.
I think Simonen himself was responsible for that particular urban legend. Based on how he presents himself, vis-a-vis women, in his interminably long autobiography, I suspect he was a man whose works are easier to admire than his character.
I enjoy Oates’s nonfiction more than her fiction. On the past year I read her very interesting THE LOST LANDSCAPE, about her childhood (in your neck of the woods, George) influenced her writing, and A WIDOW’S STORY, about the first year after her husband’s death.
Deb, you’re right about THE LOST LANDSCAPE and A WIDOW’S STORY. I found both books very moving.
You mean he didn’t have sex with 10,000 women? I never took that one literally, any more than Wilt Chamberlain’s similar claim, although it might have been 20,000 in Wilt’s case. I think these days he would have been classified as a “sex addict” but maybe he just enjoyed prostitutes. Who knows?
I also prefer her non-fiction and some of her short stories.
Jeff, I admire Joyce Carol Oates’s early novels but have resisted her later novels.
Or maybe he did.
Good Lord! Was there time to brush his teeth?
Apparently Wilt was “into threesomes” so that pushed up the total, I guess.
I tried to read the mystery she wrote and couldn’t get through it. This sounds much more interesting.
Maggie, I’m with you on Joyce Carol Oates’s “mysteries.” Her essays are way better.
Just picked it up at the library a hour ago.. Looks like more of a browsing book. My level of interest depends on who or what she is writing about. Simenon, Lovecraft, McMurtry, Karen Joy Fowler are more interesting to me than Emily Dickinson or Zadie Smith.
Ditto, Steve.
Steve, you’re right about the browsing aspects of SOUL AT THE WHITE HEAT. A good book to dip into.
Pass! And to reiterate, the final comment attributed to me yesterday wasn’t from me! For one thing I was at dinner when that comment was posted, and for another I never call Clinton Hillary!
Bob, you’ve convinced me of your innocence.
Thanks! But who did the dirty deed? Just to be safe I changed my e-mail password!
Bob, that’s a smart move. Security is everything!
Thank you for blogging about this book – which somehow I missed when published. Joyce Carol Oates is a national treasure. Some of her books have changed my life. May I direct you to her futuristic story: EDICKINSONREPLILUXE, available free online (it’s from Wild Nights! her novel in five parts.) And why not follow her on Twitter, where she gifts us her personal views every day.
Lenore, Joyce Carol Oates is so prolific I can’t keep up with all of her output! I was hoping Joyce Carol Oates would win the Nobel Prize, but it went to Bob Dylan instead.
My partner, Jerome Charyn, taught with her at Princeton and they’ve been good friends ever since. JC’s almost as prolific as Joyce, and both are huge Emily Dickinson fans. Bob Dylan deserves a Nobel, so of course does Joyce, but my admittedly sentimental vote would have gone to Leonard Cohen. If you ever do find time between JCO’s books, I’d love to send you Jerome’s. I posted your blog on my Emily Dickinson FB page for our 12k members.
Lenore, I’m also a big fan of Jerome Charyn’s books! Thank you for posting my blog on your Emily Dickinson FB page! Much appreciated!
Glad to meet another Charyn fan. We’ve got some good news on some of his projects, coming soon. You can write me if you’d like one of Jerome’s books or graphic novels – happy to send you a copy. JCpress@writemail.com
Lenore, I’m just enjoying one of Jerome Charyn’s latest projects: IT’S ALL ONE CASE: THE ILLUSTRATED ROSS MACDONALD ARCHIVES. It includes his great Introduction!
My snail mail address is:
George Kelley
121 Ellicott Street
Buffalo, NY 14203
Thanks – hope you have a large mailbox!
Wish you were downstate – let me know when you are headed towards Manhattan.
Warmly,
Lenore
Lenore, thank you in advance! I’ll be haunting my mailbox! You are too generous! I’m retiring at the end of December so a trip to Manhattan might be in my future!