{"id":1662261,"date":"2026-02-25T12:04:50","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T17:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/online\/2026\/02\/25\/\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T18:07:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T22:07:58","slug":"joyce-carol-oates-on-true-crime-her-improbable-life-and-joan-didion","status":"publish","type":"daily","link":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/online\/2026\/02\/25\/joyce-carol-oates-on-true-crime-her-improbable-life-and-joan-didion\/","title":{"rendered":"Joyce Carol Oates on True Crime, Her Improbable Life, and Joan Didion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In the third episode of\u00a0<em>Private Life<\/em>, Joyce Carol Oates joins Jarrett Earnest for an expansive conversation on everything from Joan Didion to serial killers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/share.transistor.fm\/e\/fe795756?color=990101\"><\/iframe><br><p class=\"color-gray mb-0 text-label font-ivar text-center mt-xs-1 img-caption d-none d-lg-block\">Click the \u201cSubscribe\u201d link in the player above to follow this podcast on your favorite listening platform.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>They discuss \u201cNew York: Sentimental Journeys,\u201d Didion\u2019s essay from the\u00a0<em>Review<\/em>\u2019s March 7, 1991, issue about the Central Park Five, the rush to judgment in a sensational murder case, media mythmaking, and sentimentalized narratives about crime. The conversation also touches on the state of long-form criticism, true crime\u2019s grip on pop culture, and the elusive art of the novella, and Oates reflects on her writing (including three essays about murderers that she wrote for the\u00a0<em>Review<\/em>: \u201c\u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/articles\/1994\/03\/24\/i-had-no-other-thrill-or-happiness\/\">I Had No Other Thrill or Happiness<\/a>,\u2019\u201d \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/articles\/1999\/06\/24\/the-mystery-of-jonbenet-ramsey\/\">The Mystery of JonBen\u00e9t Ramsey<\/a>,\u201d and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/articles\/2025\/07\/24\/death-in-the-air-murderland-fraser-oates\/\">Death in the Air<\/a>\u201d) and the improbability of her life.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Joyce Carol Oates\u2019s many novels, essays, short stories, poems, and works of criticism have addressed subjects ranging from boxing to Marilyn Monroe, often exploring the dark underbelly of American life. She is a Visiting Distinguished Professor at Rutgers\u2013New Brunswick and her work has appeared in&nbsp;<em>The New Yorker<\/em>,<em>&nbsp;The Paris Review<\/em>,<em>&nbsp;<\/em>and<em>&nbsp;Harper\u2019s<\/em>, among many other publications. She has been a contributor to&nbsp;<em>The New York Review of Books<\/em>&nbsp;since 1992, when she wrote \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/articles\/1992\/02\/13\/the-cruelest-sport\/\">The Cruelest Sport<\/a>,\u201d&nbsp; about boxing, Muhammad Ali, and masculinity. Her most recent novel,&nbsp;<em>Fox<\/em>, about a predatory English teacher at a New Jersey boarding school, came out last year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Episode 3 of Private Life<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":1662263,"template":"","categories":[18771,18775],"tags":[31385],"daily-type":[20612],"coauthors":[7382,20460],"class_list":["post-1662261","daily","type-daily","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ideas","category-law","tag-private-life","daily-type-conversations","author-roles-by","author-roles-in-conversation-with","author-cap-joyce-carol-oates","author-cap-jarrett-earnest"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/nybooks.com\/online\/2026\/02\/25\/joyce-carol-oates-on-true-crime-her-improbable-life-and-joan-didion\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Joyce Carol Oates on True Crime, Her Improbable Life, and Joan Didion","url":"http:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/online\/2026\/02\/25\/joyce-carol-oates-on-true-crime-her-improbable-life-and-joan-didion\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/online\/2026\/02\/25\/joyce-carol-oates-on-true-crime-her-improbable-life-and-joan-didion\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/PL-Episode_3-FeaturedImage.jpg?w=125","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/PL-Episode_3-FeaturedImage.jpg"},"articleSection":"Law","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joyce Carol Oates"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Jarrett Earnest"}],"creator":["Joyce Carol Oates","Jarrett Earnest"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The New York Review of Books","logo":""},"keywords":["private life"],"dateCreated":"2026-02-25T17:04:50Z","datePublished":"2026-02-25T17:04:50Z","dateModified":"2026-03-11T22:07:58Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Joyce Carol Oates on True Crime, Her Improbable Life, and Joan Didion\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.nybooks.com\\\/online\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/25\\\/joyce-carol-oates-on-true-crime-her-improbable-life-and-joan-didion\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.nybooks.com\\\/online\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/25\\\/joyce-carol-oates-on-true-crime-her-improbable-life-and-joan-didion\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nybooks.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/PL-Episode_3-FeaturedImage.jpg?w=125\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nybooks.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/PL-Episode_3-FeaturedImage.jpg\"},\"articleSection\":\"Law\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Joyce Carol Oates\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Jarrett Earnest\"}],\"creator\":[\"Joyce Carol Oates\",\"Jarrett Earnest\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"The New York Review of Books\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[\"private life\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2026-02-25T17:04:50Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-25T17:04:50Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-11T22:07:58Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nybooks.com\/p.js"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/daily\/1662261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/daily"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/daily"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/daily\/1662261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1662267,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/daily\/1662261\/revisions\/1662267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1662263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1662261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1662261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1662261"},{"taxonomy":"daily-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/daily-type?post=1662261"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1662261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}