Raymond Carver Minimalism

Raymond Carver’s fingerprints Every writer has a deferent way of presenting his/her Ideas to readers, and that’s what makes each of them so distinctive. A famous late 20th century American short story writer and poet, Raymond Carver, has often been described by critics as a minimalist. According to an Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary a minimalist Is a person who uses very simple Ideas In their work (“Minimalist”, 881 Raymond Carver wrote a lot of great short stories and poems.

Most of his poems very edited by his Gordon List, and the originals where never published. Comparing Raymond Carvers original stories and stories that were edited by Gordon List, his first editor, we can notice an enormous difference in style. Carver uses a lot of details that keep reader interested when List takes out all those details and leaves us with less then a half of what was originally written. Gordon List is a minimalist; he influenced his style on Carver.

When Carver became confident enough about his work, he stopped taking advice from him, and Raymond Carver’s work became even more enjoyable. Despite the critics, who consider Carver a minimalist, after reading his original and edited Tories and doing some extra research, I would argue that List was a minimalist, not Carver. Lash edited out a large portion of Carver’s work which made him appear Like a minimalist. By reading Carver’s original stories, you will see a more developed and complex style that you will not find in the edited versions.

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Raymond Carvers

If we compare Raymond Carvers original story “Beginners” and the version “What We Talk About When We Walk About Love” edited by Gordon List, we face two nearly different stories. We can clearly see how much information List has cut out from the original version; he roused out a lot of important details in the story and took out that unique persona of each character that Carver has created for a reason, to foreshadow the upcoming events. List made the story incredibly different; he even changed the title and names of the characters.

The original story and the edited story have only about thirty percent In common. The original version was much longer and yet fascinating; It had interesting details that were In harmony with the text. Details, that Carver never liked, were very Important, and It didn’t seem too heavy In the context. When Gordon List name onto the scene, he cut out nearly seventy percent of the text and left us with bare minimum. By editing out so much, he changed the plot of the story, as well as changing the title and character names. List also seems to use a lot of paragraph breaks that once again only simplify the story.

When reading Carvers stories, we can differentiate the ones that were edited by List and those that weren’t. If we take “Errand” and “Where I am calling from” we can clearly see a lot of details that help us to create a character image in our heads. Therefore, we know that those two stories weren’t edited by List. Errand” and “Where I am calling from” have strong details, such us the use of dialogue which foreshadows what Is going to happen late on. However, It doesn’t make It uninteresting, Instead It makes a reader continue reading further.

In letters from Carver to Gordon Lash, from 1969 to 1 983, we see the tremendous change In their relationship. At the beginning, Carver writes to Lash with much respect and love, “You know, I feel closer to you than I do to my own brother. You’re my Malaysian. Man, I love you” (Carver, “Letters to an Editor”). Carver tells Alls how much he loves him and he doesn’t want to lose him in his first letters. Later on, when Carver gets the edited version of the “Beginners,” he writes a long letter to List telling him how he feels about his editing. Gordon, the changes are brilliant and for the better in most cases – I look at “What We Talk About When We Walk About Love”(Beginners) and I see what it is that you’ve done, what you’ve pulled out of it, and I’m awed and astonished, startled even, with your insights”. Carver is complementing List on the editing, he like what he did, and he wants him to continue working on his stories. After sending List a few more stories and getting the result back, Carver tarts realizing that he doesn’t want his stories to be so minimal, he wants them to have the original beauty.

Therefore, he writes List another letter, telling him that he doesn’t like his editing style “l want that sense of beauty and mystery they have now, but I don’t want to lose track, lose touch with the little human connections I saw in the first version you sent me”. It is obvious here that Carver wants to have connection with a reader; he wants to have reader’s interest through out the entire story. In his last letter to List, Carver still asks him to edit his stories, but leave them indicated, may e Just a little bit trimmed if needed. Carver allowed him to change the titles if List felt the need to.

After those requests, List started working on Carver’s 3rd collection and following his requests with minimal editing. However, after that, List never wrote back to Carver. Carver addressed him last letter asking List if he forgot about him and then telling him that he is “going back to the [Paris Review] interview and take out all the good things” he said about List. This was the end of their relationship as friends or List being Carver’s editor. I assume that List did not like how Carver was irritating his editing and he decided to disappear.

Adam Meyer wrote five books of criticism published on Carver. Meyer discusses more than 45 stories and provides their full analysis. Meyer argues with other critics over that Carver was a minimalist, saying: “to remind the reader that “What We Talk About When We Walk About Love”, Carver at his barest, is also Carver at his least representative”. (Overview, Arthur F. Bethel). Adam Meyer implies that List is the one who is representing the story, and that Carver almost has nothing to do with it. “He seems to devalue minimalist stories because they are less intelligible than fuller Tories”.

Meyer does not value stories that are written in the minimalist style. Meyer believes in that Carver’s original work is more “intelligible” then the edited copies by Gordon List. Raymond Carver started rejecting Lash’s advices after becoming more confident about his work. In New Yorker, “Rough Crossings” we notice a sudden change from letters to an editor. In “Rough Crossings”, Carver becomes harsher on List. “… Severe editorial cuts – two stories had been slashed by nearly seventy percent,… , many descriptions and digressions were gone; endings had been truncated or rewritten.

All this means a minimalist style of writing which Carver is not a big supporter of. In a review of his last book, a Journalist called him a “minimalist”, meaning it as a compliment, which didn’t make Carver too happy. In 1986, an interview was taking with Carver. He was asked a question “What makes your writing uniquely your own? “(The Pillsbury Review). Carver answered: “Well, certainly, the tone in the work, I suppose. Geoffrey Wolff said in a review of my first book of stories that he felt he could PICK out a story AT Milne walkout seeing my name attached to I t. I took Tanat as a implement.

If you can find an author’s fingerprints on the work, you can tell it’s his and no other’s”. This is a big compliment for an author to be told that someone can actually recognize your story without coming across the name. Another following question was asked him: “Where do those fingerprints lie? In subject? In style? ” Raymond said: “Both. Subject and style, the two are pretty much inseparable, right? John Update once said that when he thinks of writing a story only certain areas of writing and experience are open to him. Certain areas, and lives, are completely closed.

So, the story chooses him. And I feel that’s true of myself. Speaking as a poet and story writer, I think that my stories and poems have chosen me. I haven’t had to go out looking for material. These things come. You’re called to write them. ” This is one of the reasons why Carver has such a great style of writing. His style is complex and developed because he enjoys writing the story, he has that extra information to put in, it’s not hard for him to get since all the stories come to him, unlike to minimalists. When reading Carver’s stories, we can differentiate the ones that were edited by

List and those that weren’t. If we take “Errand” and “Where I am calling from” we can clearly see a lot of details that help us to create a character image in our heads. Raymond Carver is a beautiful writer, his stories are full of interesting details that foreshadow later in the story, and make the story more interesting. Carver is definitely not a minimalist, his writing is developed and complex in order to be considered as minimalist. Raymond Carver is being called a minimalist only because his editor, Gordon List, edited most of his early stories and stripped them down to nothing.