I hit upon Raymond Carver in college at the insistence of a dear friend. Maybe it was zeitgeist and trendy, but I was moved by it. He had just died and his short story collection was passed around like communion. The Robert Altman film, Short Cuts, was a sort of collage/homage to Carver's writings which ,COINCIDENTALLY, many (short-sighted) viewers saw as what P.T. Anderson was ripping off when he made Magnolia.
This NYTimes article suggests Carver's work was really the product of a clear-headed editor. That may not change my opinions of the stories, but, I suppose it modifies where he stands in my own personal literary mythology.
Robert Penn Warren and the Great Twitch. Kerouac. Robbins. Coupland. Katherine Dunn kept them all in check. Which is why I hope Molly and I read Geek Love aloud. Soon.
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