What I Lived ForWhat I Lived For is a novel by Joyce Carol Oates published in 1994 by E. P. Dutton. The work is a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1995 and a 1995 finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.PlotReceptionKirkus Reviews deems What I Lived For "a dazzling novel, brilliant both stylistically and in its depiction of a man running desperately for his life."ThemeNew York Times literary critic James Carroll provides this thematic compendium: