Raymond Carver Summary
William Shakespeare

"One cannot imagine the late Raymond Carver as a first baseman, or as financier, or as Cromwell's foreign secretary," wrote Lee Oser in World Literature Today. "His writing explores a narrow bandwidth... Read more

Biography Essay"He was not of an age, but for all time." So wrote Ben Jonson in his dedicatory verses to the memory of William Shakespeare in 1623, and so we continue to affirm today. No other writer,... Read more

Considered by critics, scholars, and the theater-going public the most important dramatist in the history of English literature, William Shakespeare occupies a unique position in the pantheon of great... Read more

William Shakespeare's reputation is based primarily on his plays. With the partial exception of the Sonnets (1609), quarried since the early nineteenth century for autobiographical secrets allegedly ... Read more

Critical Essay by Robert Houston Raymond Carver is a pernicious alchemist. Take [the] setting, for example, from the beginning of the title story of his new collection, What We Talk About When We Talk... Read more

Critical Essay by Gary L. Fisketjon The region to which much of [Raymond Carver's Furious Seasons and Other Stories] is affixed is, roughly, the Pacific Northwest—magnificent scenery not... Read more

Critical Essay by Meredith Marsh "'I'll see if anybody's home,'" says the nameless boy in "Why don't You Dance?," the first short story o... Read more

Critical Essay by Michael Koepf This latest collection of Mr. Carver's short stories [What We Talk About When We Talk About Love] and the clear, contemporary vision it gives of the American sou... Read more

In the essay below, Gearhart traces the differences between the original story, "The Bath," and Carver's revision of the same story, "A Small, Good Thing." Raymond C... Read more

In the essay below, Hathcock compares "Feathers" and "Cathedral" to illustrate the ways in which Carver allows his characters greater freedom and ability to redeem their li... Read more

In the excerpt below, Runyon examines the connecting elements and recurring themes in the short stories from Cathedral. "feathers" "Before and after" (14), Bud said, holdin... Read more

In the following review, Knapp praises Carver's poignancy and emotional depth in Cathedral. Rarely, and at unpredictable intervals, a writer of genius appears on the literary scene, who waves a... Read more

In the review below, Schnapp, who is a professor at Bowling Green State University, discusses the significance of the inability to articulate essential truths and beliefs in Carver's characters... Read more

In the following essay, Goodheart analyzes Carver's moral code, arguing that he is at his best when his characters adhere to it. The affectless narrative voice of a Raymond Carver story defends... Read more

In the following excerpt, Saltzman compares such stories as "Feathers," "Chef's House," and "The Compartment"—which reflect hopelessness and des... Read more

In the following interview, Carver reflects on his childhood, his writing methods, and his literary influences. To be inside a Raymond Carver story is a bit like standing in a model kitchen at Sears&#... Read more

In the following essay, the novelist tells of reading poems in memory of Carver, discusses a few poems, and urges the reader to “read everything Raymond Carver wrote.” And did you get wh... Read more

In the following essay, some of Carver's late poems are read as strategies for interpreting other works by Carver, as well as intimating an ability to interpret the motives and intentions of ot... Read more

In the following laudatory review of the short story collection What We Talk about When We Talk about Love, Marsh contends that the title story “suggests many of the problems of both love and c... Read more

In the following review, Bumpus discusses the dominant themes of the stories in What We Talk about When We Talk about Love. Like the buck in “The Calm,” people in Raymond Carver's... Read more