"Cathedral" is a short story written by Raymond Carver in 1983.
Plot summary
The narrator describes a relationship between his wife and a man maintained through audio tapes mailed back and forth. As the story begins, Robert, a blind man, is coming to visit. The wife had not seen the man since she had worked for him ten years earlier. The narrator is resistant to the stranger's visit, but this resistance begins to break down as the two build a connection through mutual understanding in the denouement, creating an epiphany of self-knowledge for the narrator (a characteristic element in Carver's fiction).
Recognition
The short story "Cathedral" is the final story in the collection Cathedral (1983). With its publication Carver finally received the critical praise he had longed for. "Cathedral" is generally considered to be one of Carver's finest works displaying both his expertise in crafting a minimalist story and also writing about a catharsis with such simple story lines. "Cathedral" has also been recognized as sharing a similar style to writers such as Hemingway, Kafka, and Chekhov.
