Raymond Carver - by Carol Sklenicka (Paperback)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>Raymond Carver was the most beloved American short-story writer of the late 20th century. Two decades after his death, this comprehensive biography tells the story of Carver's uncanny ambition, legendary life, and enduring work.<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><b>When Raymond Carver died at age fifty, readers lost a distinctive voice in its prime.</b> Carver was, the <i>Times </i>of London said, the Chekhov of middle America. His influence on a generation of writers and on the short story itself has been widely noted. Not so generally known are how Carver became a writer, how he suffered to achieve his art, and how his troubled and remarkable personality affected those around him. <p/>Carol Sklenicka's meticulous and absorbing biography re-creates Carver's early years in Yakima, Washington, where he was the nervous, overweight son of a kindly, alcohol-dependent lumbermill worker. By the time he was nineteen, Ray had married his high school sweetheart, Maryann Burk. From a basement apartment where they were raising their first child and expecting their second, they determined that Ray would become a writer. Despite the handicaps of an erratic education and utter lack of financial resources, he succeeded. Sklenicka describes Carver's entry into the literary world via little magazines and the Iowa Writers' Workshop; his publication by <i>Esquire </i>editor Gordon Lish and their ensuing relationship; his near-fatal alcoholism, which worsened even as he produced many of the unforgettable stories collected in <i>Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? </i>and <i>What We Talk About When We Talk About Love</i>. She examines the dissolution of his first marriage and his partnership with poet Tess Gallagher, who helped him enjoy the full measure of his success. <p/>Carol Sklenicka draws on hundreds of interviews with people who knew Carver, prodigious research in libraries and private collections, and all of Carver's poems and stories for <i>Raymond Carver</i>. Her portrait is generous and wise without swerving from discordant issues in Carver's private affairs. Above all Sklenicka shows how Carver's quintessentially American life fostered the stories that knowing readers have cherished from their first publication until the present day.<p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>"If his stories, told in a clipped, brusque voice, help us better understand life in all its loveliness and anguish, then this biography does the same for the man behind them, only with a shout -- full-throated with the voices of those who knew him. Meticulously researched, unflinchingly honest, and always compelling. What we talk about when we talk about Carver will forever be defined by this poignant monument of a book." -- Benjamin Percy, author of "Refresh, Refresh" and "The Language of Elk"<br><br>"Raymond Carver's stories and poems are still very much alive, and thanks to Carol Sklenicka's biography, Ray the writer comes to life again. This is a remarkable book, very thorough and deeply moving. I knew Ray, and now I know him better than ever." -- Richard Cortez Day, author of "When in Florence" and "Something for the Journey"<br>
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