Synopsis
Spans twenty-five years of the author's writing career with both earlier works and original stories that explore betrayal, madness, and other reaches of human experience, in tales including "Intimacy" and "Boxes"
Reviews
The cool streamlined style of this modern master of the short story has spawned dozens of younger writers who seek to follow in Carver's footsteps. But where the Brat Pack frequently produces flat, unresonating fiction, Carver has the ability to render graceful prose from dreary, commonplace, scraping-the-bottom human misery. This collection consists of 30 stories selected from four previous volumes, and seven new tales. Appearing in order of original publication, they reflect Carver's developmentfrom 1963 to the present. We meet many of his characters just as something dear to them is slipping away. Jobs, cars, the affection of a spouse or child, the routine of lifeall can be lost. Even in the more upbeat stories, a narrator recalls a happy occasion that, in retrospect, marked a change for the worse, or a high point in a life since gone sour. In Carver's world, ashtrays overflow, wives are usually ex-, and drinkers are drunks. Seedy and dishonest characters are glimpsed in the process of once again doing the wrong thing. One of the new stories, "The Errand," which is in part an account of Chekhov's death, is offered as a tip of the hat to the great short story writer. Even here, with more affecting and finished prose than ever before, Carver's rendering gives us all the intimacy of a medical chart. Aptly named, he is a carver of flesh from the bone. Paperback rights to Vintage.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Carver is arguably the most important American short story writer since Ernest Hemingway, and like Hemingway he is the master of a much-imitated style: spare and flat, yet powerfully implying much more than it says. His stories deal with people whose lives are coming apart and with the illusions to which they cling for self-respect; many have the emotional impact of overheard confessions. This aptly titled collection contains eight new stories written since the publication of the much praised Cathedral , plus 30 stories selected by Carver from his other books. Together they chart Carver's literary development as he takes us to frontiers of desperation where dreams turn to dread. No fiction collection should be without this book. Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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