1st Edition

Technique and Sensibility in the Fiction and Poetry of Raymond Carver

By Arthur F. Bethea Copyright 2001
344 Pages
by Routledge

342 Pages
by Routledge

340 Pages
by Routledge

Emphasizing important techniques and themes, with due consideration of germane theoretical perspectives and relevant biographical materials, this study offers the most comprehensive, sophisticated examination of Raymond Carver's fiction and poetry to date. Key arguments include a de-emphasis of indeterminacy in Carver's fiction; a detailed unfolding of his brilliant technique, especially his use... Read more
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Chronology of Key Works
Introduction
Chapter One: Reassessing Indeterminacy's Importance: An Examination of the Unreliable Narrators in Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
Chapter Two: What's in Alaska?: Symbolic Significance in the Commonplace
Chapter Three: The Education of Ralph Wyman: The Epistemological Theme in Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
Chapter Four: Catatonic Realism? Further Analysis of Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?
Chapter Five: Omission in What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Chapter Six: Excessive Authorial Control?: More Analysis of What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Chapter Seven: Isolation and Withdrawal: The Still Bleak Prospects for Carver's Characters in Cathedral
Chapter Eight Communication in the Final Stories
Chapter Nine: Raymond Carver's Poetic Technique
Chapter Ten A Thematic Guide to Carver's Poetry
Metapoetry and Tributes
Alcoholism
Marriage and Family
Nature
Death and Beyond
Chapter Eleven Conclusion
Bibliography

Biography

Arthur F. Bethea received his PhD. from Ohio University in 1996 and is currently an Assistant Professor of English at Purdue University-Calumet.