The 86-year-old author’s social feed might be her greatest contribution to literature – with philosophical musings on everything from US politics to an infected foot

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At the centre of most things is a skeleton. So it is for the online infamy of Joyce Carol Oates. In 2021, the award-winning novelist delivered her most significant contribution to literature: a diabolical tweet ruminating on the existentialism of Halloween.

For the uninitiated, the 86-year-old, five-time Pulitzer finalist used her platform on X (formerly Twitter) to share a photo of an impressive, American-style Halloween decoration, which featured dozens of plastic skeletons clambering up the facade of a house. “You can always recognise a place in which no one is experiencing much or any grief for a lost loved one,” she wrote. “Everyone you love decomposing to bones is just a joke.”