Hey all, I won't be able to attend today (or any other day) in person since my ankle-biters are home for the summer and then we leave for Europe on the 25th (sad, isn't it?). However, being duty-bound, I've spent the past week reading a lot of Carver and I'll have comments for sure.
We had a lively discussion of Raymond Carver's work on Thursday. We covered a range of topics, including Carver's themes of alienation; the difficulty of communicating with others; the realization of the self through an "other"; the portrait of certain grotesque characters; and the ways in which he parallels couples with one another. We also discussed how his "minimalism" evolved into a more descriptive style, and how this reflects Carver's own life journey out of alcoholism and despair and toward stability. We also noted the ways in which form reflects content in most stories. Hope we can continue our discussions!
This week I picked up Raymond Carver’s Call If You Need Me:The Uncollected Fiction and Other Prose. As the title suggests, the volume contains stories as well as essays and criticisms by Carver. This book allows the reader a closer look into Carver’s personal life and his opinions on diverse topics such as writing, friendships, education and family. In particular, I recommend the first story, “Kindling.” Here’s a quote: “Now and then the telephone rang, but he never made a move to answer it. It wasn’t for him, because nobody knew he was here.” (Carver 15). It’s very compelling to imagine a time when nobody would know where you were and nobody would need to or want to reach you. Very lonely. The forlorn attribute so prevalent in Carver’s male characters would be beautifully portrayed by Greg Kinnear; this was a thought I had yesterday when I watched Little Miss Sunshine. In Call Me If You Need Me, Carver writes a beautiful essay about his father aptly titled “My Father’s Life.” This touching essay depicts Carver’s father with great tenderness and affection. I thought his father seemed like a Steinbeck character; coming West in the 1930s seeking a better life, only to encounter more hardship. I’m completely hooked on Raymond Carver! I was surprised to find out that he lived in Palo Alto for a while. See you around the blog and thanks to Michelle for setting us up and to Jordana for keeping us reading.
We are a group of Foothill College students who, together with the guidance of our instructor Jordana Finnegan, have formed an unofficial summer reading group to explore and discuss in further depth, some of our favorite modern American writers. Meetings will be held every two weeks.
3 comments:
Hey all,
I won't be able to attend today (or any other day) in person since my ankle-biters are home for the summer and then we leave for Europe on the 25th (sad, isn't it?). However, being duty-bound, I've spent the past week reading a lot of Carver and I'll have comments for sure.
I hope you'll let me play along online.
Katja
Hello all,
We had a lively discussion of Raymond Carver's work on Thursday. We covered a range of topics, including Carver's themes of alienation; the difficulty of communicating with others; the realization of the self through an "other"; the portrait of certain grotesque characters; and the ways in which he parallels couples with one another. We also discussed how his "minimalism" evolved into a more descriptive style, and how this reflects Carver's own life journey out of alcoholism and despair and toward stability. We also noted the ways in which form reflects content in most stories. Hope we can continue our discussions!
This week I picked up Raymond Carver’s Call If You Need Me:The Uncollected Fiction and Other Prose. As the title suggests, the volume contains stories as well as essays and criticisms by Carver. This book allows the reader a closer look into Carver’s personal life and his opinions on diverse topics such as writing, friendships, education and family. In particular, I recommend the first story, “Kindling.” Here’s a quote: “Now and then the telephone rang, but he never made a move to answer it. It wasn’t for him, because nobody knew he was here.” (Carver 15).
It’s very compelling to imagine a time when nobody would know where you were and nobody would need to or want to reach you. Very lonely. The forlorn attribute so prevalent in Carver’s male characters would be beautifully portrayed by Greg Kinnear; this was a thought I had yesterday when I watched Little Miss Sunshine.
In Call Me If You Need Me, Carver writes a beautiful essay about his father aptly titled “My Father’s Life.” This touching essay depicts Carver’s father with great tenderness and affection. I thought his father seemed like a Steinbeck character; coming West in the 1930s seeking a better life, only to encounter more hardship.
I’m completely hooked on Raymond Carver! I was surprised to find out that he lived in Palo Alto for a while. See you around the blog and thanks to Michelle for setting us up and to Jordana for keeping us reading.
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