| As a precursor of the renaissance of the short story in America during the1970s,Raymond Carver (1938-88) is always labeled as a minimalist. His premature deathleaves us with sixty-five short stories, with What We Talk about When We Talk aboutLove as a watershed. Adam Meyer even likens this collection as the narrowest point ofan hourglass. Most critics opine that his earlier short story collections, namely WouldYou Please Be Quiet, Please? and What We Talk about When We Talk about Love arerelatively pessimistic due to the characters’ nihilistic and desperate behaviors in hisstories, which is in sharp contrast to the prevailing concept of American dream duringthat period. It is no wonder that Bill Buford, the former fiction editor of The NewYorker, defines him as the dirty realist. However, in his later works, Carver grants thecharacters more promise, with the mood in his stories more hopeful. However, bymeans of comprehensive scrutiny, this thesis contends to present a differentinterpretation of Carver’s earlier works from that of the previous critics and aims todiscuss the points from the following three perspectives:In his earlier short stories, Carver exhibits an authentic context of how hischaracters struggle through obsessions in life in an attempt to express his humaneconcern over lower-middle class rather than merely unfold a bleak picture of thesubmerged group. In his works, characters try every means to seek self-salvation:couples hope to make some change in their monotonous life; the emasculatedhusbands attempt to alter their impotent status quo; the submissive wives try to breakthe shackles of their husbands’ dominance, and to stop being objects for their sexualdesire alone. Although their efforts are usually futile with the fact that their resorts toviolence, alcohol or voyeurism are always considered as abnormal behaviors,Carver’s narrative tone of them is detached and composed, absent from any moraljudgment, because from his point of view, what matters for him is truth in life. Theireccentricities deserve his documentary-like narrative and constant attention.Then those sufferers learn to reconcile with misfortune after unavailing efforts. Yet the reconciliation of this kind is undeniably a positive attitude toward life which isworthy of being respected. Encountering the unchangeable mediocrity in life, theirremediable infidelity in marriage or the inescapable obsession in self-identity,Carver’s characters regularly try every means to pull themselves back to the track ofnormal lives. Although the results bring no constructive change in their lives, they justlet everything take its course, and continue with life’s ebb and flow. In the stories, thecouples learn to brave the mediocrity, while the impotent husbands begin to face up totheir incompetence and the wives start to accept their restrained identities in thefamilies. They are often struck but never beaten down. In a sense, it is their modestacceptance of the blow in life that should win our applause.Simultaneously, the fellow-feeling generating from the reconciliation dilutes theagony and misery in life, so that characters are able to coexist with suffering in life atease. The silence and inarticulacy in Carver’s stories often leave most readers andcritics with the impression that his characters are usually apathetic and indifferent toeach other. But, the author of this thesis observes that it is the fellow-feeling ratherthan indifference among characters that generates from the face-to-face silence andinarticulacy. No matter it is a hug between the couples, a hand-waving between menor the spiritual resonance during women’s self-identification, the telepathy-likefellow-feeling between the frustrated characters offers them spiritual solace in need.Therefore, as a silent but firm spiritual bond, the tender feeling generating betweenthe fellow-sufferers warrants his characters a slice of lightness under the heavypressure of life.Therefore, by means of close reading, this thesis will endeavor to place Carver’searlier works under close examination, namely the two collections: Would You PleaseBe Quiet, Please? and What We Talk about When We Talk about Love, and pick outthree typical stories from them respectively, namely “Fat”,“Neighbors”, and “HowAbout This?” from the former collection and “Viewfinder”,“Mr. Coffee and Mr.Fixit” and “So Much Water So Close to Home” from the latter one. Together with thebrief comparison of other selected stories in these two collections, the remarks on hisearlier works by those predecessors as well as Carver’s interview, this thesis tries to offer another different definition concerned on attitude toward life in order to provethat Carver’s earlier works also warrants his characters a slice of brightness in life. Inthe views of this thesis, to achieve the American dream by painstaking efforts is onlyone of the alternatives to live a decent life. When change is impossible despite therelentless striving, to make a compromise with hardship in life is another option tomake life dignified and therefore deserve our respect and appreciation as well.Therewith putting forth this highly-valued traits which definitely can not be ignored inour human nature, the author of this thesis attempts to communicate withpredecessors’ reviews, and if possible, to enrich the interpretation of Carver’s earlierworks. |
PDF Full Text Request