Joyce Carol Oates Apologizes to Those Upset by Her Landfill New Yorker Story

Posted on October 13, 2006

Joyce Carol Oates has apologized to those who were upset after reading her short story "Landfill," which recently appeared in The New Yorker. The story is based on the tragic death of a real student and many were shocked at the realistic details used in the story. The story greatly upset the family of the victim and many felt that Oates' story was tactless at best, and perhaps even cruel.

Oates' story "Landfill" tells the tale of an MSU student named Hector Campos, Jr. who goes missing for weeks. His remains are eventually discovered in a Michigan landfill.

The Daily Princetonian reports, that the controversy over the story began when Regina Kenen, a retired professor at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), noticed similarities between Oates' story and the death of TCNJ freshman John Fiocco, Jr. He went missing and his body was later found in a landfill.

Kenen wrote in an email to Oates, "You so flimsily disguised the true College of New Jersey story upon which your fictionalized account is based, and used your imagination so cruelly, that it can only add to the overwhelming pain the [Fiocco] family has already suffered."

Oates says in an interview with The Times of Trenton, "I'm certainly feeling very apologetic and deeply sorry that I inadvertently ... hurt the feelings of these people and just feel sorry about that."