The advantage and appeal of minimalism in literature is that it draws readers into the story by forcing them to conceptualize missing details. The spare, objective style that he admired in some of Hemingway’s short stories, such as “The Killers” and “Hills Like White Elephants,” was perfectly suited to Carver’s needs. It would have been inappropriate to write about simple people in an ornate style, and, furthermore, his limited education would have made it impossible for him to do so effectively. His lifelong experience had been with working-class people. Carver writes about divorce, infidelity, spiritual alienation, alcoholism, bankruptcy, rootlessness, and existential dread none of these afflictions is peculiar to the working class, and in fact, all were once more common to members of the higher social classes.Ĭarver was a minimalist by preference and by necessity. Although it is true that most of Carver’s characters belong to the working class, their problems are universal. Even when the critic is sympathetic, this dual categorization tends to stigmatize Carver as a minor artist writing little stories about little people. Nearly everything written about Raymond Carver (– August 2, 1988) begins with two observations: He is a minimalist, and he writes about working-class people. Analysis of Raymond Carver’s Short Stories
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