Re: Ray Carver
jason varsoke (jjv@caesun.msd.ray.com)
Fri, 27 Aug 1999 07:25:27 -0400 (EDT)
> 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.
I don't know about you, Tim, but I think he's got it. Keep going John,
keep going. You can't stop now. You just can't.
You're right, there is no archetypial symbolism in Carver. He's doing
slice of life. Kafka was doing the extrodinary life and showing you
wierd. But Carver, Carver's showing you the guy who lives two houses down
from you, who just lost his job at the mill, and has to take back a pair
of sneakers at K-Mart. Carver's weird is elusive because it's common.
You really need to pay attention to the relationships in the story. Don't
look for hints, don't look for clues. Carver's famous for saying, "No
tricks." He doesn't seem to plant things. He just writes an honest
story. You gotta remember, this stuff is slice-of-life. This is some
guy's life, sitting out on his driveway. Dancing with some girl. He
thinks it's sex. She doesn't. How does all that make the man feel?
What's his condition. Is this a sad state of affairs? And Tim's right.
There's nothing funny about Carver. Just remember, it's every day in
these people's lives. They live. They're normal. They're us.
-j