“For the writer, the serial killer is, abstractly, an analogue of the imagination's caprices and amorality; the sense that, no matter the dictates and even the wishes of the conscious social self, the life or will or purpose of the imagination is incomprehensible, unpredictable.”

American writer

Joyce Carol Oates is an American writer. Since her first book appeared in 1963, she has published 58 novels, along with plays, novellas, short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her work has received wide recognition. Her novel Them won the National Book Award in 1969, and Black Water, What I Lived For, Blonde, and the short story collection Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories were all finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has also received two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize in 2019.