Telling Stories: An Anthology for Writers

by Joyce Carol Oates (Editor)

Drawing on syllabi for Joyce Carol Oates’s own writing seminar at Princeton University, Telling Stories gathers over one hundred works of narrative art―"miniature" narratives, dramatic monologues, early stories by well-known writers, prose pieces inspired by myth, legend, and folktale, poems that tell stories, memoir and diary excerpts, two examples of genre fiction, and a generous sampling of classic and contemporary short stories―selected to stimulate and inspire beginning writers as they practice and perfect their craft. Oates’s chapter introductions and afterword on the writing workshop offer students encouragement, advice, and exercises for honing their skills.

As a teacher, Oates emphasizes the importance of reading widely with enthusiasm, pleasure, and purpose. Telling Stories reflects this emphasis, introducing students to a variety of models for their own writing and encouraging them to concentrate on details, revise often, make material their own, experiment with genre, and ultimately find their own voice.

Edited by a contemporary master of the storyteller’s art "who defines herself primarily as a friend of the text and a friend of the writer," Telling Stories is the perfect anthology for creative writing workshops and fiction classes and a wellspring of inspiration for any beginning writer.

"The love of storytelling―to hear stories, and to tell them―is universal in our species. Those with an apparent talent for writing. . . are not of a special breed but simply mirror the common human desire. [If] you have a natural talent for writing, and a love of the imagination, you risk a lifelong deprivation if you fail to cultivate it as vigorously as you can. Write your own ’great American novel‘. . . you’re talented, you’re intelligent, you have the driving passion, and you know as much as anyone about American life. Your story belongs uniquely to you." ―Joyce Carol Oates, from the Introduction

Genres: Short Stories, Writing, Fiction, Anthologies, Poetry, Textbooks

733 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 1997

About the author

Joyce Carol Oates is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), and Blonde (2000), and her short story collections The Wheel of Love (1970) and Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories (2014) were each finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has won many awards for her writing, including the National Book Award, for her novel Them (1969), two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize (2019).
Oates taught at Princeton University from 1978 to 2014, and is the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor Emerita in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing. From 2016 to 2020, she was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she taught short fiction in the spring semesters. She now teaches at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Oates was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2016.
Pseudonyms: Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.

Reviews

[Glenn Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

“We need myths to get by. We need story; otherwise the tremendous randomness of experience overwhelms us. Story is what penetrates.”
― Robert Coover

I think we can all agree on how one key ingredient for a good work of fiction is the aliveness of characters. But how far do we go with this? Case in point - I offer the following micro-fiction:

Real Life Characters

Basil Blackhorn is writing his novel. Basil Blackhorn is the kind of novelist who lets his characters develop a life of their own. Basil Blackhorn hears voices in his head, then writes what the voices tell him. The voices talk and talk and talk and talk and talk themselves out and finally resort to action.

The next morning the authorities find Basil Blackhorn slumped over his writing desk, his throat sliced by five thin slashes of a knife. The motive, background information and details of the slaying are described by the five main characters in the novel in progress on his desk.

What can be done? The five characters, so read the authorities, make a clean escape beyond many borders.

----

And when it comes to a master storyteller sharing advise on the magic of fiction, you will not find a better guide that Joyce Carol Oates. This is one book I refer to again and again.

[Laurin Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

JCO is my hero.
That's it.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The categories that Joyce Carol Oates uses for organizing the anthologies, and the way that she presents narrative in short fiction, and in memoir, and in poetry, resonates well with my students. I was thrilled to see many of my favorite writers here and to discover a few new, delightful voices.

[Ronald Wise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of 114 samples of writing by 96 different authors – short stories, poems, journal/diary entries, and excerpts from larger works. Nearly all were at least enjoyable reading and the selection served as an introduction to 36 authors I had yet to read.

The outstanding pieces in this anthology were: The entries for 14 May 1905 and 15 May 1905 from Alan Lightman’s Einstein’s Dreams; “Lethal” by Joyce Carol Oates; “Goodbye, My Brother” by John Cheever; “The Sisters” (1914 version) by James Joyce; “1845” from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The American Notebooks; the entries for 22 May 1853, 5 January 1856, and 8 October 1857 from Henry David Thoreau’s The Journal; “Moments of Being” from Virginia Woolf’s “A Sketch of the Past”; “Borges and I” by Jorge Luis Borges; “No Name Woman” from Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior; “Home Burial” by Robert Frost; “The Levee” by Gary Soto; “Aisle of Dogs” by Chase Twichell; “Tickets, Please” by D. H. Lawrence; “That Evening Sun” by William Faulkner; “The Writer in the Family” by E. L. Doctorow; “Why Don’t You Dance?” by Raymond Carver; “The Man from Mars” by Margaret Atwood; “Mourning” by Robert Taylor, Jr.; “Cutter” by C. E. Poverman; “Young Lions” by Edward P. Jones; and “The Pugilist at Rest” by Thom Jones.

[Rosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joyce Carol Oates being who she is, there’s a definite lean towards darkness in this anthology. A lot of death and bitterness. But it’s still excellent.
My favorite pieces include “The House of the Crime” by Alberto Moravia (gave me chills), “No One’s a Mystery” by Elizabeth Tallent, “Death of the Right Fielder” by Stuart Dybek, and “Goodbye, My Brother” by John Cheever. That’s: creepy, sad, sad/strange, sad, for those of you keeping score.
(Ms. Oates includes two of her own things in here. Is that a good idea? I've never gotten a straight answer. Or rather, I have—“No”—but authors keep doing it anyway.)
Highly recommended.

[Cory Tsuhako · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for creative writing.

[Mellie Durrett-johnson]

Required reading for a class.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice selection of stories

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This particular anthology is one of those that is worth reading just for that one story, (that one essay, hell, that one line even!) that sparks in the reader the sensations of resonance and wonder. I will doubtless return to these narratives again and again, so arresting and diverse are the works of Williams and Rhys and Dybek and Updike and Ames and Ellison and Dillard and Oates. Daniel Halpern's "Coffee" and M.F.K. Fisher's "Those Who Must Jump" in particular, I think, will linger with me for a while.

[Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obviously I haven't read this whole tome, but this is the most comprehensive and thorough examination of good and popular writing I've come across. Joyce Carol Oates has impeccable taste.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best short story anthologies I've ever read.