When her journals began, 34-year-old Oates was already a recipient of the National Book Award (1969), with many O. Henry awards, and others, under her literary belt. For all her warm critical reception, however, the author had been (and would remain) fairly reticent about the personal details of her life and background. Housed in her archive at Syracuse University, the journals run to more than 5,000 single-spaced typewritten pages. This volume focuses on excerpts from that first decade, 1973-1983, one of the most productive of Oates' long career.