2014 Distinguished Reader<\/a> of the Programs in Creative Writing & Translation of the English department of the University of Arkansas. Earlier in the day, Oates met with Master of Fine Arts students.<\/p>\nAfter two introductions, Oates went onstage about 7:15, and the several hundred seats were over three-fourths occupied. She ended at 8, noting there would be no Q-and-A.<\/p>\n
In between, the noted author was delightful. She read one story, an older one, “Small Avalanches,” the title piece from a collection. Oates to a modest but effective extent acted the parts of the narrator, a naive 13-year-old girl, and other characters, even gesturing at points with hand movements and shoulder shrugs.<\/p>\n
The second half of her presentation was a reading from a draft of a memoir she is calling The Lost Landscape: A Writer\u2019s Memoir.<\/em> The section concerned her parents and some grandparents. She read this quickly with no drama.<\/p>\nBefore reading the fiction, Oates emphasized how she rarely writes in her own voice. It helps her, she said, to move through the cadences and inflections of the voice of the main character.<\/p>\n
Her stories, she said, are mixed from three sources: made up (invention), acquired (observation) and self (memory). After “Small Avalanches,” where the young narrator is walking home followed by a man with apparent bad intent, she noted which parts came from which.<\/p>\n
It was slight but sufficient for my literary evening, to learn Joyce Carol Oates’ view of “made up, acquired and self.” After all, she’s published more than 50 novels, dozens of short story, essay and poetry collections, and books for children and young adults.<\/p>\n
She gave us a big clue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s unfair to say one feels let down by a free program. It’s more unreasonable to feel let down by a non-performer’s performance. Alas, several of us did; I asked around afterward. Writer Joyce Carol Oates, 75, still teaching at Princeton and other campuses, was fascinating for her 45 minutes onstage at the Fayetteville Town […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-course-of-words"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":318,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/05\/twin-double-feature\/","url_meta":{"origin":4790,"position":0},"title":"Twin Double-Feature","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 22, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Scott Shackelford wrote a thoughtful column for today's Northwest Arkansas Times, about a possibility we Ozarkers should make a pitch for: A cinema specializing in small films. Malco Theatres Inc., which has a number of multiplexes in the area, is building a 12-screener in Fayetteville just down from Northwest Arkansas\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Body, Home, Street"","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7040,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2021\/04\/jan\/","url_meta":{"origin":4790,"position":1},"title":"Obituary for Jan Soderstrom","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"April 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Jan in her 20s, probably late 1970s, and Jan having lunch out with her sons Kirk and Kris on March 20, 2021, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina Jan Carol Altman Soderstrom, of Winston-Salem, N.C., died April 7, 2021, at the age of 71, of cancer. She was born May 22, 1949,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Body, Home, Street"","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Childhood home of Ben Pollock, far right","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/BenPollockFtSmithHouse.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/BenPollockFtSmithHouse.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/BenPollockFtSmithHouse.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/BenPollockFtSmithHouse.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/BenPollockFtSmithHouse.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/BenPollockFtSmithHouse.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6336,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2019\/04\/your-vote\/","url_meta":{"origin":4790,"position":2},"title":"I Would Appreciate Your Vote","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"April 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Candidate Ben Pollock Official U of A photo, summer 2014 I am running this week for a position on the University of Arkansas Staff Senate. The online balloting ends Monday, May 6. If you are a U of A staff member, you may choose to vote for me, and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Education, Coarsely"","block_context":{"text":"Education, Coarsely","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/education-coarsely\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"My Razorback roots go deeper than I thought. My maternal grandfather, Ernest Mendel of Fort Smith (born in Hot Springs), evidently attended the University of Arkansas. I've checked the Senior Walks of several years; he didn't graduate.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ernest-Army-Discharge-1920.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ernest-Army-Discharge-1920.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ernest-Army-Discharge-1920.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ernest-Army-Discharge-1920.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ernest-Army-Discharge-1920.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ernest-Army-Discharge-1920.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7515,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2023\/04\/university-of-phoenix\/","url_meta":{"origin":4790,"position":3},"title":"Root for the Phightin’ Phoenices to Roost in Arkansas","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"April 22, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"DATELINE MIRTHOLOGY \u2014 We, the Campus Welcoming Committee of the University of Arkansas System, would like to extend a hand or rather wing to our newest school, the University of Phoenix. As the UA System Board of Trustees has not yet voted on the adoption of this virtual campus, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Education, Coarsely"","block_context":{"text":"Education, Coarsely","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/education-coarsely\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Illustration of a comical phoenix and pig","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/cartoonish-phoenix-and-hog.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/cartoonish-phoenix-and-hog.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/cartoonish-phoenix-and-hog.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/cartoonish-phoenix-and-hog.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/cartoonish-phoenix-and-hog.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/cartoonish-phoenix-and-hog.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8189,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2025\/10\/top-ten-list-top-ten-commandments\/","url_meta":{"origin":4790,"position":4},"title":"Top Ten List of Top Ten Commandments","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"October 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Top Ten Reasons the University of Arkansas Doesn't Need to Find Places on Campus to Nail 500 Copies of One Translation of the Ten Commandments Editor's Note by Ben Pollock, Local 965 vice president News item: \"U of A Rolls Out Ten Commandments Displays,\" Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Oct. 16, 2025,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"One of the 500 posters of the Ten Commandments donated to the University of Arkansas, mounted at Union Station next to a defibrillator.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/our-ten-commandments.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/our-ten-commandments.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/our-ten-commandments.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/our-ten-commandments.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/our-ten-commandments.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/our-ten-commandments.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6031,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2018\/03\/no-gun-ban-tiddlywinks\/","url_meta":{"origin":4790,"position":5},"title":"ASP Rejects Gun Ban for Tiddlywinks","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"March 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"It's time to go renegade. After all, I fought the law and last night the law won. As manager, coach and occasional player in the University's Tabletop Sports team, I had sought to continue the weapons ban at r'Asadinks Tiddlywinks Stadium, here in Office 248. The longstanding ban at school\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Education, Coarsely"","block_context":{"text":"Education, Coarsely","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/education-coarsely\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Email from ASP Cpl. Lewis, 26 March 2018","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/tabletop-stadium-response-redacted.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4790"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4797,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4790\/revisions\/4797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Joyce](\"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/JCOonline3-247x300.jpg\")