The Absurdity Of A Low Profile

Raymond Carver called "the American Chekhov" was a famous short-story writer in the20th century in American. He affected the posterity in minimalist technique of writing style, and was also considered to be the most important person for the revival of short-story in80s in the United States.In Carver’s short-stories, there is the obvious feature of realism for describing people in the bottom of society as the main object. Therefore, people usually read them as the realistic works, but ignore to analyze those works deeply with philosophy and esthetics. In the careful study, people can know that Carver’s works have an "absurd" feature in two aspects: one is showed the existential philosophy including the variation of characters, the failure of communications, and the loss of self; another is the characters’ mental abnormalities which is distortion under the daily pressure. Thus, Carver pays a special attention on human’s spiritual world.Based on the original works, I use the theory of philosophy, aesthetic, psychoanalysis, and narrative to analyze the profound meaning of absurdity in Carver’s characters’ absurd behaviors. Also, this way can reveal the important elements which cause the abnormal character, and analyze the aesthetic tension in the text.