Joyce Carol Oates, America Through the Looking Glass
“Writing is a drug; sweet, irresistible and exhausting.” Since the mid-1960s, Joyce Carol Oates has published around fifty novels under her own name and a dozen others under pseudonyms — Rosamond Smith, Lauren Kelly — but also around forty collections of short stories, fiction for young people, essays, poetry or plays. If some consider her “the greatest writer of our century”, she describes herself more as a “storyteller”: “I just write stories about people. They are the ones who are fascinating and mysterious.” Its heroes, “melancholy and tenacious”, evolve in America on the margins: the story of women and children, African-Americans, rural people and workers. “Woman with a Hundred Novels” – title of the documentary dedicated to her, signed Stig Björkman and available on arte.tv until June 7 – she publishes “48 clues on the disappearance of my sister”, and reissues “Diary 1973-1982 ”, a large fragment of his autobiography. Joyce Carol Oates is our guest.
Allergies, epidemics: does climate change threaten our health?
Itchy throat, runny nose, watery eyes and endless sneezing: it’s the big comeback of allergies in France. If the phenomenon is classic, it has been particularly virulent in recent years. Whose fault is it ? Climate disruption which causes – among other things – an extension of flowering periods and promotes the migration of allergenic species towards the north. And this is not the only effect of climate change on our health: the appearance and development of species “vectors” of diseases in our territory, such as the tiger mosquito – carrier, among others, of dengue or chikungunya — are also part of it. According to Public Health France, 45 indigenous cases of dengue fever – that is to say non-imported cases – were recorded in mainland France in 2023. Added to this, the risks linked to high heat, water stress or zoonoses – a disease infectious which passed from an animal to man — favored by the growing promiscuity between humans and animals, caused by the destruction of biodiversity. Environmental and climate risks also now have documented effects on mental health, “eco-anxiety”. How can we anticipate these new challenges? Is our health system sufficiently equipped to deal with the increase in these diseases?
Finally, also find the chronicles of Xavier Mauduit and Marie Bonnisseau!
28 Minutes is ARTE’s current affairs magazine, presented by Elisabeth Quin from Monday to Thursday at 8:05 p.m. Renaud Dély is in charge of the show on Friday and Saturday. This podcast is co-produced by KM and ARTE Radio.
