Raymond Carver
Perhaps the most significant and influential figure in this century's wave of American realism, Raymond Carver (1938-1988) is credited not only with reviving the short story as an artistically legitimate form, but also with perfecting minimalist fiction. His 1981 collection, What We Talk about When We Talk about Love, remains the standard against which minimalist literature is measured, and his numerous prize-winning and frequently anthologized stories have established him as the extender of a modernist tradition stretching from Chekhov through Joyce and Hemingway. In his later collections, such as Cathedral (1983) and Where I'm Calling From (1988), Carver surpasses even his own great achievement, setting a bold new path for his short fiction and intensifying the scholarly attention he'd first inspired with "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?" (anthologized in Best American Short Stories of 1967). Moving chronologically through Carver's complete short fiction canon and examining key stories in depth, Ewing Campbell traces the author's development through and beyond literary minimalism, into the tradition of tragic allegory. He explores Carvers persistent use of myth and archetype; motifs of the grotesque; religious iconography; and oppressed, spiritually paralyzed characters. From the earliest stories through the latest, Campbell illuminates Carvers constant fascination with the way individuals connect or fail to connect with one another.