Perpetual Indeterminacy In Raymond Carver’s Narrative Art

Raymond Carver(1938-1988),an excellent American short-story writer and poet,is praised as the most influential one after Ernest Hemingway in the mysterious realm of short story.After his death,the London Times even put him on a par with the worldclass master of short story,Anton Chekhov.His major works includes several collections of short stories such as Will You Please Be Quiet,Please?(1976),What We Talk about When We Talk about Love(1981),Cathedral(1983),Where I’m Calling from(1988).As one of the few literary observers of "tough times" and spokesperson of the submerged,disadvantaged group in American society,Carver always focuses on the working-class people who struggle to get by in the bottom of American society.Carver’s stories therefore are tagged with "dirty realism".Apparently,in the sight of some conservatives and "American Dream" advocators,Carver seems to be somewhat deviant and his works are often criticized for not being optimistic enough,and revealing too much of the seamy side of things.Those opponents even argue that people that Carver writes about can’t be taken as authentic Americans.However,in fact,Carver’s characters are the very majority constituting American society then,and all the trifles,ordinariness,melancholies,absurdities and indeterminacies they’ve experienced and felt are exactly the real depiction of lives of the rank and file.Definitely,the themes of Carver’s stories are quite unique.Yet his charm doesn’t just stop there.It also finds expressions in Carver’s whole set of sophisticated narrative arts,which have long been discussed,but never in a thorough and systematic way.Taking the perpetual "indeterminacy" in Carver’s short stories as an entry point,this thesis attempts to make a relatively systematic analysis of Carver’s distinct narrative strategies and their artistic effects which contributes greatly to thematic and aesthetic expression.The thesis focuses mainly on three significant narrative techniques frequently employed by Carver,namely minimalist narration,unreliable narration and black humor.Moreover,the author will probe into how Carver,by virtue of such skills,builds into his writings abundant effects of menace,unreliability and absurdity,which finally triggers and reinforces the haunting air of indeterminacy.By doing so,the author aims to bring due attention to Carver’s craftsmanship as one who are fully able to carve the very true essence of human conditions and the real world underlying the excitement of surface.