I’ve been thinking a lot about short stories recently. Our March Roomtowrite conference has something to do with this, and the fact that I’ve been ill in bed has given me a lot of time for reading them too. Unusually I wrote novels before ever writing stories and I’ve no doubt that I’m a novelist at heart but my respect for the short story has grown enormously over these past weeks. I think I’ve learned a lot about what makes a story work, and how I could improve my own attempts and I will post about this in the coming weeks. Some things however never change – like the enduring power, brevity and beauty of Raymond Carver’s stories – he is still the Master for me – and What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, is my favourite. I first read it on a trip to Boston in preparation for an evening with Bob Waxler and the young male offenders in his Changing Lives Through Literature programme – it was an extraordinary evening – a meeting of equals – judges, offenders, probation officers, lecturers – seated at a round table and talking about what love meant to them. I felt privileged to be there.
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I’ve just read Raymond Carver’s biography, which I’ve reviewed on my book blog. It took me straight back to the stories and I’ve been re-reading ‘Will you Please be Quiet, Please?’ There are some wonderful stories. He’s such a brilliant architect. The biography is very illuminating on the stories and how a new york editor clipped them drastically, and RC was too unknown to protest, but he later re-instated the original versions!
I really must read the biography – I’m glad you’ve prompted me Kathleen – and more of the stories. I’m so pleased to hear he re-instated the original versions!
I remember so well sitting round Bob Waxler’s round table listening to the reaction of these young men to Raymond Carver’s story/ They did have love in them but it took some getting out…. A vivid experience.
wxx