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Cathedral (Vintage Contemporaries)

by Raymond Carver

ISBN13: 9780679723691
ISBN10: 0679723692
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

"A dozen stories that overflow with the danger, excitement, mystery and possibility of life...Carver is a writer of astonishing compassion and honesty...his eye set only on describing and revealing the world as he sees it. His eye is so clear, it almost breaks your heart."--Jonathan Yardley, "Washington Post Book World "Cathedral contains astonishing achievements, which bespeaks a writer expanding his range of intentions."--"The Boston Globe "A few of Mr. Carver's stories can already be counted among the masterpieces of American fiction...Cathedral shows a gifted writer struggling for a larger scope of reference, a finer touch of nuance." --Irving Howe, front page, "The New York Times Book Review "Clear, hard language so right that we shiver at the knowledge we gain from it." --Thomas Williams, "Chicago Tribune Book World "Carver is more than a realist; there is, in some of his stories, a strangeness, the husk of a myth." --"Los Angeles Times Stories included: "Feathers" "Chef's House" "Preservation" "The Compartment" "A Small, Good Thing" "Vitamins" "Careful" "Where I'm Calling From" "The Train" "Fever" "The Bridle" "Cathedral"

About the Author

Raymond Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, in 1938. His first collection of stories, Will You Please Be Quiet, Please (a National Book Award nominee in 1977), was followed by What We Talk About When We Talk About Love Cathedral (nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1984), and Where I'm Calling From in 1988, when he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He died in August of that year, shortly after completing the poems of A New Path to the Waterfall

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: Tara McDaniel, May 5, 2009 (view all comments by Tara McDaniel)
Maybe cliche, but seriously one of my favorite short-story authors (and authors of all time), and this is one of my favorite short story collections (of all time). It's indeliably connected in my mind with Joyce's "Dubliners" for some reason, probably because of Carver's title story, "Cathedral" (my all time favorite short story next to "The Dead"). It's writing and reading at its best--the narrators who, even though down in hard times and blue-color ordinary Joes (and Marges), tell stories with a strange vigor, an emphatic enthusiasm, as if a friend were telling you, quite seriously, right at your kitchen table "Now, you wouldn't believe what she said to me!" as you both pass around the whiskey bottle another time.

I also love a good epiphany, a nice moment of clarity or turn-around in a story. All of Carver's stories in this collection have that. It makes ending each story deeply satisfying. That doesn't always happen in a short story, so it's wonderful to get that from first to last.

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Product Details

ISBN:: 9780679723691
Author:: Carver, Raymond
Publisher:: Vintage Books USA
Location:: New York :
Subject:: General
Subject:: Literary
Subject:: Fiction
Subject:: Short Stories (single author)
Subject:: Short stories
Copyright:: c198
Edition Description:: Vintage Books Paperback
Series:: Vintage Contemporaries (Paperback)
Series Volume:: 585
Publication Date:: June 1989
Binding:: Paperback
Language:: English
Illustrations:: Y
Pages:: 240
Dimensions:: 799x504x64 54

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