Raymond Carver (1938 to 1988, Oregon, USA) is on a lot of top ten short story writer of all times lists. I have read and posted on five of his stories. I recognize he has a tremendous talent and can do wonders with a small amount of material. I was fully convinced of his brilliance when I read his story on the last day in the life of Anton Chekhov,. (By a cosmic coincidence it was Carver's last story.) I am put off a bit by the people in Carver's stories. I know it is not a good reading habit to judge stories and novels on how the people in the stories relate to those in your world but I am a bit turned off by the prevalence of alcoholics, drug users, wife abusers and just seemingly brutally ignorant people in his stories. If this shows a lack of artistic detachment on my part or a lack of sympathy for the people in most of his stories, then so be it. ![]() It does not mean I do not appreciate his genius and I will keep reading his stories. 'They're Not Your Husband' will make a lot of people cringe at the brutal seemingly valueless lives depicted in the story. The husband in the story has to be a nightmare figure for every married woman concerned her charms have faded. The wife works as a waitress in a diner. Basically that means a restaurant with a counter, a simple place. The husband is sitting at the counter, hoping to get a free meal. Two men come in and scrutinize his wife from behind as she bends over. Full text document (pdf). Scofield, Martin P. (1994) 'Negative Pastoral; the Art of Raymond Carver's. Of seeing the world; but not just new Dr Johnson's definition of wit. They are us As Carver himself said of the stories of a friend and fellow. Salesman demonstrates his wares to the narrator on the strength of a free. In They’re Not Your Husband by Raymond Carver we have the theme of embarrassment, appearance, acceptance, control, obsession, selfishness and insecurity. Not knowing who the man is, they make a number of really rude remarks about her body, concluding with a suggestion that they guess she can still attract men because 'some like them fat'. The husband is really upset by this. When he and the wife are going to bed, he basically tells her she needs to lose some weight and tells her to stand naked in front of the mirror. OK it takes either an idiot or a total uncaring brute to say something like this to his wife, perhaps particularly when she is the only one working in the family. He goads her onto a diet and when she begins to lose weight but looks haggard and feels week her co-workers express concern over her health. She tells her husband and he says to her ' They're Not Your Husband'. After she has lost nine pounds or so, the husband is back in the diner. He is sitting next to a man he does not know and he tries to draw the man into a conversation about the body of his wife. This is male bonding at its worse. This is a very well done story. Carver is considered a minimalist (he would have been great on Twitter!). He does do a whole lot in this story. It appeared in his collection of stories, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Your freedom app download. If you search for it, you can read it online. Please share your experience with Carver with us. The Idea and They are Not Your Husband by Raymond Carver “Adjectival” stories, real medicine The Idea refers to something outrageous in the mind of the narrator and not some thought, designmore like: - The very idea that you could come at 3 a.m.! There is a man that comes very often, every time when it is raining, to look at the woman next door, while she is undressing. Vern is the husband and he is invited to look, when this stranger comes at the window, in an ironical twist: - The voyeur becomes a The Idea and They are Not Your Husband by Raymond Carver “Adjectival” stories, real medicine The Idea refers to something outrageous in the mind of the narrator and not some thought, designmore like: - The very idea that you could come at 3 a.m.! There is a man that comes very often, every time when it is raining, to look at the woman next door, while she is undressing. Vern is the husband and he is invited to look, when this stranger comes at the window, in an ironical twist: - The voyeur becomes a kind of subject of voyeurism What I did not understand was the revolt of the woman who tells the story and threatens to have a word with the “slut”. I mean I get “the idea” and I think I should not mention what happens and what the surprise is- at least it what has amazed me. Vern smokes a lot; he keeps his palm as an ashtray and even goes to bed smoking, which was not the absurd activity it became today. The fabulous thing about Raymond Carver is his mastery of telling what appears to be a normal story in plain words while at the same time conveying a sensation of something extraordinary happening, or if not, then at least the feeling is that the retelling is mesmerizing. In a way, it has reminded me of Romanian cineastes, who have been ridiculed by satirical papers that underline their way of filming: - If someone eats soup and it takes a long ten minutes, that what we see on the screen - In the same way, I remember Fat, where we learn the details: - The Fat had bread many times over, because he finished it, ordered lamb chops, salad and more There is humor and I laughed when I learned that the outraged neighbor is more lenient regarding voyeurs, under special circumstances: - The idea! I would call the police if someone came at my windows - Unless it were Cary Grant The second story is They Are Not Your Husband Doreen is a waitress married to Earl, who is a salesman between jobs.
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