Reading Raymond Carver

by Randolph Paul Runyon

Book Overview

This study of the short stories of Raymond Carver also takes excursions into his poetry and essays. Runyon argues that the stories are intricately linked as part of a cohesive body of work.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0815626312
• ISBN13: 9780815626312
• Release Date: September 1993
• Publisher: Syracuse University Press
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

"Intratextuality" of Raymond Carver's stories

Author Runyon provides an insightful interpretation of Raymond Carver's short story collection "Will You Please be Quiet, Please", "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love", "Cathedral" He labels this insight "intratextuality", where the strategic placement and sequence of text makes a connection to other stories. As he says, "- and this is the thesis of my book -to the interstices between the stories as well." The more I read this book, I'm not sure I can buy this theory. The word intratextuality, in the book, is defined as when the texts in a text begin to refer to each other in ways that seem to refer to their doing so. Here, the authors who knew Carver personally make their assessments. An example Runyon refers to in his own words: In "Neighbors", the Millers' fascination with their neighbors is answered by the fascination exerted on the couple in "The Idea" by "their" neighbors, as well as by the fascination those neighbors themselves fine for the very idea of voyeurism. What he references to in "Intimacy", is the last line, "the narrator sees the need to pick up the leaves strewn, while the beginning of the next story, "Menudo", the narrator is unable to put up with the accumulation of leaves." In Carver's story "Collectors", narrator Slater, waiting for the mailman, would `look through the curtain' while the next "What Do in San Francisco?", the narrator becomes the mailman who tells that the resident, Marston, would be `looking out at me through the curtain'." Sure, there are undisputed connections and underlying themes in all Carver's stories, but to follow this idea would be too complex and, at times, a little to deep. How much can you make out of whether one character is looking OUT a window, versus the other story's character is looking IN. Storytelling is just a choice of wording, opposing characterization for different stories. The beauty of Carver stories and poems is that they are NOT complex and deep! His are meant to savor the conversation, to read beyond the surface, to feel the story, feel the characters, their happiness and pain regardless of their personality. Enjoy Raymond Carver as you would any other author, and to go to the extreme of finding some connection or stories strategically placed is quite unnecessary! ...MZ RIZZ

Reading Carver will never be the same again.

I had been reading Carver for some years before I discovered this gem of a book. After reading this book, I re-read all of Carver's stories and realised how much I had missed the first time round. What fascinates me is how all the stories and characters are all inter-connected - you just have to read carefully and look for the clues. Now I realised why Raymond was not a minimalist as many think so. He was a precisionist.