Eli Cash

In what is probably an open flouting of copyright law, Raymond Carver's "Cathedral" is posted in its entirety online:

"Cathedral"

Anybody hoping to write short stories would do well to spend two hours/days/weeks/months/years/decades/lifetimes with this piece.

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phurst

It was pretty good, not great to me but a nice story and written with a nice easy open style. The voice is so unique, that's what I liked about it. Genuine.

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mandax

I love that story. I've read it twice before. And phurst is right ... the voice is just so different. But I love the ending. Love love love the ending.

JosephB

I love this story, and Carver in general.

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"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
-- Albert Einstein

"I am really only interested in a fiction of miracles."
-- Flannery O'Connor

Eli Cash

Well, obviously not on par with some of the gems you find on here, but still ...

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JosephB

Carver's a genius. My writing used to be too dense, too much description. I read Carver, and a light went on. But I don't try to write like him. No one could.

He's one if the top 4 or five short story writers of all time, I think. Tragic his life was cut short.

If you are tired of being told how to feel by writers who believe they know everything about human emotions, Carver is perfect for you. Carver is minimalism at its best. He has a profound grasp of human interaction. He feels no need to share the obvious and allows the reader to come to his own conclusions. He writes extraordinary stories about ordinary people. I am eternally in debt to the person who brought Carver to my attention.

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"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
-- Albert Einstein

"I am really only interested in a fiction of miracles."
-- Flannery O'Connor

Eli Cash

Couldn't have said it better, JB.

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SevenWritez

Does he have a short story collection out? If so, what is it titled? Anyways, I'm on the third paragraph right now. His style feels a bit monotonic (personal opinion--please, no attacks), but I'm going to see it through to the end.

EDIT: Wow. I finished it, and loved it. What other stories does he have out there?

Eli Cash

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JosephB

Never mind, I didn't see Eli's post.

I will say, some people don't care for Carver, and that's fine. I'm not one to say that if you don't like his writing, "you don't get it."

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"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
-- Albert Einstein

"I am really only interested in a fiction of miracles."
-- Flannery O'Connor

Eli Cash

Another good one to workshop:

JOHN CHEEVER

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lin

Yeah. I would say Cheever is much more worthwhile to study. he's quite a craftsman.
I'd see Carver as just sort of having characteristics that found favor. I don't think it's much you can learn how to emulate.

Carver has been a conundrum to me from the first collection of his stories somebody gave me. The first one I read really nailed me. Wow! This is so cool!
But I never recaptured that feeling with his stuff after that. It just seemed to wash by without effect, like formica.

He's one of those artists in an itchy category in my head. I have absolutely no problem writing off a lot of artists that people rave about. Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol are jive, no matter what anybody says.
And I have no problem with the idea that even though I don't think Bach is any big deal, that if I studied music more and learned to appreciate him I could see where his greatness lies.

Carver and a few others won't settle in for me. To an extent I just don't see what the fuss is about, but there's a tease of something that makes me think maybe there's something there I just don't get.

Anyway, apart from all that, there is no disputing his stature. I would say anybody who wants to be a serious short story writer should be familiar with his work because it's a definitive moment in contemporary fiction.

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Wintermute

Carver is the epitome of all the stuff they try to teach you in college Lit courses.

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"How poor are they that have not patience!
What wound did ever heal but by degrees?
Thou know'st we work by wit, and not by witchcraft;
And wit depends on dilatory time." - Iago

lin

That's probably a really good way to put it.

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Eli Cash

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