RAYMOND CARVER

by Mr. Penn

Childhood

College

Writing Career

STYLE

“Just as he started to turn off the lamp, he thought he saw something in the hall. He kept staring and thought he saw it again, a pair of small eyes. His heart turned. He blinked and kept staring. He leaned over to look for something to throw. He picked up one of his shoes. He sat straight and held the shoe with both hands. He heard her snoring and set his teeth. He waited. He waited for it to make the slightest move” (“What’s in Alaska?”)

STYLE

MINIMALSIM REALISMDARK HUMORWORKING CLASS CHARACTERS

IMPACT

• CONNECTION TO PREVIOUS AUTHORS

AUTHORS WHO CARVER CREDITS AS AN INFLUENCE Gordon Lish John Gardener

RECEPTION

Very popular within a specific literary circle “No other writer was as much discussed and

mimicked by the writers one met at readings and writers’ conferences. Probably not since Donald Barthelme began publishing in the 1960’s had a story writer generated such a buzz in the literary world” (Jay McInerney).

Reception is increasingly positive since his death “Carver’s reputation has blossomed. He has gone

from being an influential—and controversial—member of a briefly fashionable school of experimental fiction to being an international icon of traditional American literary values” (A.O. Scott).

RECEPTION

Carver’s work is sometimes seen as too ambiguous, lending itself to polarizing interpretations “Carver’s verbal subtlety and outward

technical reticence seem to have encouraged his interpreters to beat his work into whatever aesthetic or political intention suits their purpose” (Gunter Leypoldt).

The end