Raymond Carver Books

Raymond Carver's writing delves into the lives of individuals facing poverty and deprivation, marked by a haunting minimalism and subtle violence. His earlier works exemplify "dirty realism," characterized by their starkness and ambiguity. However, in later collections like Cathedral, Carver showcases a broader emotional range, revealing deeper connections with his characters and adopting a more expansive narrative style reminiscent of Chekhov. This evolution highlights his ability to blend detachment with empathy, enriching the landscape of American fiction.

Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Cathedral

The final story collection from “one of the great short story writers of our time” (The Philadelphia Inquirer) features classic stories from Cathedral, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and earlier volumes. • “Among the masterpieces of American fiction." —The New York Times Book Review By the time of his early death in 1988, Raymond Carver had established himself as one of the great practitioners of the American short story, a writer who had not only found his own voice but imprinted it in the imaginations of thousands of readers. Where I’m Calling From, his last collection, includes seven new works previously unpublished in book form. Together, these 37 stories give us a superb overview of Carver’s life work and show us why he was so widely imitated but never equaled.

This prodigiously rich collection of poems suggests that Raymond Carver was not only America’s finest writer of short fiction, but also one of its most large-hearted and affecting poets. Like Carver’s stories, the more than 300 poems in All of Us are marked by a keen attention to the physical world; an uncanny ability to compress vast feeling into discreet moments; a voice of conversational intimacy, and an unstinting sympathy. This complete edition brings together all the poems of Carver’s five previous books, from Fires to the posthumously published No Heroics, Please.  It also contains bibliographical and textual notes on individual poems; a chronology of Carver’s life and work; and a moving introduction by Carver’s widow, the poet Tess Gallagher.

With this, his first collection, Carver breathed new life into the short story. In the pared-down style that has since become his hallmark, Carver showed us how humour and tragedy dwelt in the hearts of ordinary people, and won a readership that grew with every subsequent brilliant collection of stories, poems and essays that appeared in the last eleven years of his life.

PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • Twelve short stories that mark a turning point in the work of “one of the true American masters" (The New York Review of Books). “A writer of astonishing compassion and honesty … His eye is so clear, it almost breaks your heart.” —The Washington Post Book World A remarkable collection that includes the canonical titular story about blindness and learning to enter the very different world of another. These twelve stories “overflow with the danger, excitement, mystery and possibility of life.” —The Washington Post Book World

This fascinating collection contains the original, unedited stories Raymond Carver wrote for what became - at the hands of his editor Gordon Lish - What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

Contains four essays, including a memoir of the author's father's working life in the saw-mills of the Pacific Northwest, a tribute to his mentor John Gardner, and an essay about the influences on his writing life; fifty poems; and, seven stories.

From “one of the great short story writers of our time” (The Philadelphia Inquirer)—nine stories and a poem that offer a searing portrait of American innocence and loss—and formed the basis for the film “Short Cuts” directed by Robert Altman. With deadpan humor and enormous tenderness, this is the work of “one of the true contemporary masters” (The New York Review of Books). Features stories from the collections Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?, Where I’m Calling From, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and A New Path to the Waterfall; including an introduction by Robert Altman.