Re: Ray Carver

John Smith (johnsmiii@yahoo.com)
Fri, 27 Aug 1999 01:16:30 -0700 (PDT)

--- jason varsoke <jjv@caesun.msd.ray.com> wrote:
> Ah, Carver, so close to my heart, so close to the
> bottle.  I haven't read
> 'Why don't you dance?' but I think I can lend some
> insight into Carver.
> Reading him is a little strange.  His pieces are
> often very poetic in the
> sense that picking appart the details never gets you
> close to the whole.
> And that's what you have to take in, the whole.  You
> see, Carver has a
> slow fuse.  You look at everything that's going on
> in the story and often
> ask yourself, so what?  Then, often on the last
> page, the emotion
> explodes.  Actually, it's more like a supersaturated
> suspended collodial
> solution.  (If you know what I mean, you'll know
> exactly what I mean)
> Adding that last detail renders the entire thing in
> front of you.  If you
> want, probably the best, example of this, read
> "Cathedral."  That story is
> amazing.  Right at the end you have this very
> strange feeling, and you are
> the main character.  You just are.  
>    Sorry, this is a horrible explaination of one of
> my favorite authors.
> I had to weigh in, but I probably should have gotten
> some sleep first.
> But the image of the suspended colloide is perfect,
> trust me.  
>    So my suggestion is, don't look at the details,
> look at the whole.
> Kafka can be understood through the details, as can
> JDS.  But for Carver,
> is just the whole.  i guess it's like looking at
> those stereograms.  You
> can't do it by parts, you either got it or you
> don't.
>    Damn, this isn't any help at all, is it. 
> Nevermind.  Just read
> "Cathedral."  
> 
> -j
> On Thu, 26 Aug 1999, John Smith wrote:
> 
> > Tim O'Connor wrote:
> > But it's endlessly fascinating to see what path a
> > writer
> > takes in
> > evolution (e.g., Raymond Carver going from "Will
> You
> > Please
> > Be Quiet,
> > Please?" to some of his last, lean fiction like
> "When
> > It's
> > Human
> > Instead of Animal" [title from memory; please
> don't
> > pummel
> > me if I
> > mangled it a bit).
> > 
> > 
> > Has anybody read, 'Why don't you dance?'  I've
> heard
> > Carver was an amazing author but I found myself
> > puzzled when I caught that story in a reprint. 
> Why is
> > the man's dancing with her supposed to be so
> mystical?
> >  Granted, it's strange for a man to reposition his
> > bedroom furniture on his driveway and ask a
> stranger
> > to dance, but what is this story supposed to
> > represent?  I've read some cryptic Kafka and it
> isn't
> > nearly as puzzling as Carver's story, if it is
> > supposed to resonate with meaning.  Is there some
> sort
> > of mystery hidden between the lines that he
> expects us
> > to assemble?  I've only read that one story, maybe
> if
> > I was more acquainted with his style I would see
> what
> > message he attempts to convey.  Is it a puzzle or
> > maybe a symbolic portrayal of suburban life?  I'd
> love
> > to hear anyone's thoughts on the story and Carver.
> > __________________________________________________
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> > 


This is what mystifies me.  Everyone says that Carver
is an amazing writer, that his words will grip me like
an iron maiden, but I was dissapointed.  He wrote
well, but I did not feel that emotional intensity.  I
read the Country Doctor twice because the queeriness
estranged me but Why DOn't You Dance did none of that.
 I don't know what to think about it.  Sure, he takes
his bedroom out to the driveway and he's not having a
yard sale so he's not feeling too great.  A couple
comes along and drinks with him, they dance together,
make little sense about who is drunk and who isn't,
the man dances with her and it's like sex, but she
talks about it afterwards and it wasn't sex, but no
one understood why it was like sex or so weird.  I
don't understand why it was so weird, but I understood
why Kafka's was so weird.  I didn't get the symbolism
between the two horses and why one neighed while the
other bowed its head at certain points of the story,
but it left me thinking, and I've got a pretty good
idea of what the horses represent and why they draw
the doctor rather than him driving them to the
patient's house.  Is there symbolism in Carver, is it
archetypal or just plain weird?  I like weird in a
story, but it has to be justified by something real. 
he doesn't explain anything.  I read it twice, looking
for clues, but found nothing other than the narration
and a couple of random guesses as to who these people
are and why the hell they are dancing in this guy's
driveway.  Maybe I should read it again.  I will read
Cathedral but the last line of the story I read did
not render everything obvious.    

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