Typed letter signed, on the prospect of the novel in the 1970s.

20 November 1969. Typed letter signed from the American novelist Joyce Carol Oates (b. 1938), on her projections for literature in the 1970s. Oates writes in response to the Toronto Star journalist Ray Gardner (1919-1997), who requested her opinion on literary developments as part of a series of letters to prominent individuals requesting their outlook on the coming decade. Oates responds "I think the Seventies will be as exciting as the Sixties have been. I envision an increase in the number (and quality) of small presses and small magazines, and an increasing willingness on the part of more established publishers to bring out experimental work. The breakdown between 'conventional' and 'experimental' should about complete itself in the Seventies... I would like to see less reliance upon single-effect works: not so much of the by-now conventional 'black comedy', not so much social protest or intense psychological introspection, but rather a generous combining of these various sub-genres. The novel is very much alive, and more than ever informed by a multitude of disciplines - I would like to see a distinctly contemporary sophistication combined with the kind of leisurely and graceful storytelling we associate with the nineteenth century. Sincerely, Joyce Carol Oates". Typed letter (279 x 215 mm). Creases as originally folded, a couple of spots of very faint soiling. In very good condition.