Imagination

What makes "Errand" a short story instead of a historical essay is the use of imagination as a literary device. Carver not only adds the character of the young blonde man to the roster of historical characters, but his narrator imagines what he and other characters are thinking, seeing, and feeling during their interactions with one another. For example, the scene in which Dr. Schwöhrer sends for a bottle of champagne is historically accurate and documented by Chekhov biographer Henri Troyat. However, the details about Schwöhrer's phone call and the expression on the doctor's face are Carver taking dramatic license with history.

By adding imaginative elements to historical facts and information, Carver creates a hybrid literary form that some critics refer to as creative nonfiction. The introduction of imagination as a part of a historical account, however, also begs the question as to what...