On The Artistic Tension Of Raymond Carver’s Short Stories Pan Jun

"The Renaissance of Short Story" bloomed in American literature in the1980s. Raymond Carver, the pioneer, shook the literary world with his artistic tag "Minimalism". Objectively, we say "Minimalism" reflects the distinct artistic tension of Carver’s work from some certain perspectives, rather than illustrates all his characteristics.Many factors generated the artistic tension of Carver’s short stories. Externally, the social and historic background of Carver (the60s to80s when American literary history was mixed with realism, modernism, post-modernism and carelessness to the lower class) motivated him to compose his works with a tension reinforcing creation concepts and artistic techniques distinguishing from realism, to picture the blue-collar life. Internally, the endless struggle with family and the author himself (physically and mentally), and the gradually formed ideology of nihility, constructed the context of confliction from various forces in his novels.The tension in Carver’s short stories is multi-dimensioned. It exists not only on the form level, but also on the content level. It exists not only on the story level, but also on the discourse level. It exists not only in the correlation between style and narrative form, grotesque factors and rational structures, but also between characters’ appearance and their essences, values and emotions, and the interaction of texts and readers. Exploring the tension net of Carver’s novels will help to grasp his artistic principles.Carver’s story has its own personal-style and distinct characteristic. It is reflected in presentation style of his imagination, heavily inspired by abrupt change of plot at the climax. It is reflected in the homogenization of motion and stability. It is reflected in his own explanation of the tension’s beauty, neither as the "elegant sense" resorting to sensibility directly, nor as the "lofty sense" possessing transcendental sense.Tension in Raymond Carver’s short stories is remarkable. Studies on it not only show the artistic quality from a more inclusive perspective rather than traditional one of "Minimalism", but also help us find the artistic uniqueness of his works.