An Analysis On Narrative Arts In Raymond Carver’s Short Stories

Raymond Carver is one of the most influential short story writers after World War II in America. He has published seventy-one short stories in his fifty-year life. Most of his works show the characteristic of minimalism to varying degrees.This paper uses the theories of narratology to study Carver’s short stories comprehensively. Based on this, it studies the narrative arts of Carver and his aesthetic appeal to minimalism, and then elaborates the value and impact of his narrative arts.The introduction part is mainly about Carver’s life, the overview of his short stories’ creation, overseas and domestic status, the theoretical resources and research ideas.The first part focuses on narrators with different functions in Carver’s short stories. It mainly studies the covert narrator and unreliable narrator in creating the narrative effect.The second part pays attention to Carver’s ingenious use of all kinds of narrative techniques in his short stories. It mainly studies the indispensable part of two techniques that are ellipsis and vacancy and direct speech in strengthening the narrative effect.The third part discusses the narrative arts of Carver’s short stories’ aesthetic appeal to minimalism. Carver’s narrative arts are not random and they are formed with the guidance of aesthetic appeal to minimalism. In order to understand Carver’s narrative techniques deeply, it is necessary to sort out and discuss minimalism’s historical background, aesthetic characteristic, literary value and so on.The fourth part discusses the value and impact of his short stories’ narrative arts.On the one hand, he learns and inherits the tradition of narrative techniques from writers like Chekhov, Hemingway and so on. On the other hand, he creates a new style that is a strong personal narrative style. It exerts a significant influence on literary creation around the world.