When she reads from her work in public she likes to select the stories with narration, such as "The Fish Factory," which she considers "a dramatic monologue." It's a story about a mother's loss of her daughter. Oates also often reads "Small Avalanches," a story she wrote in the 1970s, a narration by a 13-year-old girl, told with a lot of drama. (Both are included in the new volume.)

Oates grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Niagara Falls, N.Y. "I still don't see anything wrong with saving money. I'm not one in favor of conspicuous consumption.

"I have friends who will pay $200 for a meal at a restaurant. That seems decadent to me. I just don't have those values. We have one car — a white Honda. Every few years my husband trades it in for another white Honda. An expensive car would just get dented."

Similarly, Oates doesn't feel pride in her work or the work of her students. "I just feel satisfaction if something goes well. Much of life is accidental. The good things that happen to us are often accidents. People who have troubles or accidents shouldn't feel ashamed of it."

And she was raised to be a hard worker. "Writing is work — you can't get it done in a flash. It takes hours. I do a lot of thinking. I meditate on the complexities of characters. I use composite characters from life in my work, and I use episodes and events from my own life — or things I've heard about. I use real settings all the time."

Oates is not usually drawn to comedy, however. "In comedy, the characters are often cartoon-like. Human beings are very complex. They show certain sides of their personalities to the world. The rest we have to infer. I don't find a TV sitcom to be real in any way.

"On the other hand, someone like Peter Sellers created a character. I just watched 'Dr. Strangelove' again after many years. The main thing is the comic acting. Sellers plays three roles, and you just stare at him. He's a flat character in it, but he portrays a high level of satire. It is an artistry that is fascinating to watch."

Because Oates teaches a heavy load at Princeton (two workshops and three tutorials) she has to be very organized to get her writing done. "I get up early and I work all day long. I don't write quickly. It takes me a long time to write a single page. I work longer than most writers. But I like work. I'm not one who longs for a vacation."

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E-mail: dennis@desnews.com