“ What We Talk About When We Talk About Love ” ( What We Talk About When We Talk About Love ) is a collection of short stories by American writer and poet Raymond Carver edited by , published in 1981 [1] .
| What we talk about when we talk about love | |
|---|---|
| What We Talk About When We Talk About Love | |
 | |
| Author | Raymond Carver |
| Genre | Dirty Realism , |
| Original language | |
| Original published | 1981 |
| Publisher | |
| Pages | 159 |
| ISBN | 9780394516844 |
History
The collection includes 17 stories, the heroes of which, for the most part, are desperate and abandoned alcoholics, burdened by unlucky marriage, lovers of love [2] [3] . The fictional world of the collection is close to where Raymond Carver spent most of his life [3] .
The author’s manuscript was mercilessly edited by Gordon Lish, with whom Carver was bound by contractual obligations [4] . The writer was stunned by the edits: his manuscript was reduced by no less than 50%, the endings of 14 stories were rewritten, 10 stories were given new names [3] . In a letter dated July 8, 1980, Carver begged Lish to stop publishing the book, but the editor neglected the author’s desire [3] [5] .
“What we talk about when we talk about love” became a literary sensation, critics vied with each other to praise Carver for his verbal skill, imputing to him the popularization of a minimalist style [1] [5] . Despite the enormous success of the collection, the author did not allow significant changes to be made to his next book, The Cathedral, which Lish agreed to with obvious reluctance [3] .
After the death of Carver (1988), the widow of the writer, Tess Gallagher, succeeded in publishing the original stories of her late husband [1] . Stories, the total volume of which is twice as much as in the 1981 collection, were released in 2009 under the title Beginners [3] . They are distinguished from the stripped-down versions of Lish mainly by a more cordial style of narration, which sharply contrasts with the manner of presentation in 1981, which literary critics have defined as cruel [2] [6] .
- What don’t you dance?
- Viewfinder
- Mr. Nesi-Coffee and Mr. Ha-All-Hands
- Gazebo
- Though pick up the needles
- Kulechki
- Bath
- Tell the women we're leaving
- Where is the whole jeans
- So much water so close to home
- The third thing that brought my father to the grave
- Serious talk
- Peace
- Popular mechanics
- Everything stuck to him
- What we talk about when we talk about love
- One last thing
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 Motoko Rich. The Real Carver: Expansive or Minimal? - Page 1 . The New York Times (October 17, 2007). Date of treatment February 15, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 Anatole Broyard. Books of The Times . The New York Times (April 15, 1981). Date of treatment February 15, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Giles Harvey. The Two Raymond Carvers . The New York Review of Books (May 27, 2010). Date of treatment February 15, 2015.
- ↑ Stephen King. Raymond Carver's Life and Stories - Page 2 . The New York Times (November 19, 2009). Date of treatment February 15, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 Motoko Rich. The Real Carver: Expansive or Minimal? - Page 2 . The New York Times (October 17, 2007). Date of treatment February 15, 2015.
- ↑ Stephen King. Raymond Carver's Life and Stories - Page 3 . The New York Times (November 19, 2009). Date of treatment February 15, 2015.