It’s a modern-day tragedy that some people may know the author Joyce Carol Oates primarily for her online presence — on social media, she has posted an image of her foot oozing with blisters, and regularly voiced inflammatory opinions. It’s odd — and oddly fascinating — behavior for such a literary heavyweight, one whose six a long time of novels, short stories, essays and more have triggered fascinating debates concerning the intersection of violence, sexuality, race and womanhood (amongst other dark, distinctly American subjects).

There’s much to chew on concerning the author, now 85. Too bad the documentary “Joyce Carol Oates: A Body within the Service of Mind” only nibbles. Directed by Stig Björkman and narrated by Laura Dern, this documentary is so fixated on enshrining Oates throughout the canon of American literary giants that it skirts across the peculiarity and provocation of her ideas.

Björkman offers something like a glorified Wikipedia article. He identifies key moments in Oates’s life (her marriages, her upbringing in rural Recent York) and too cleanly links them to the books that got here out of them. As an illustration, “Them,” Oates’s 1969 masterwork, is explained as merely a response to the 1967 riots in Detroit. What’s more, Björkman is bored with showcasing the great thing about Oates’s prose or her often risqué interests — Oates’s Marilyn Monroe novel, “Blonde,” becomes a neutered feminist statement piece moderately than the abject tale of mythmaking that it’s.

An prolonged interview with Oates is woven throughout, though the tight-lipped author doesn’t take care of confessions. If Björkman’s breakdown is annoyingly textbook, he at the least allows us to bask in the author’s uncanny presence. We have a look at Oates, her pursed lips and barely dazed eyes, and might’t help but ask: What’s she considering?

Joyce Carol Oates: A Body within the Service of Mind
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 34 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on most major platforms.