Joyce Carol Oates was born in 1938. As a child growing up in Lockport, New York, her preparation for her future career began early. Before she could even write, she used pictures to convey stones. At the age of fifteen she submitted her first novel to a publisher, but the book was rejected for being "too dark" since it dealt with a drug addict who is reformed by caring for a black stallion. Such "dark" themes are common to Oates's work, including the frequently anthologized story, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"

Oates completed her college education at Syracuse University In 1960 and earned a master's degree in English at the University of Wisconsin a year later. Newly married, Oates and her husband, Ray Smith, moved to Texas so he could continue his own schooling. Although by this time Oates had published many stories, she did...