Portrait of Raymond Carver
Mathias & Jonathan

Raymond Carver was an american writer and was born in 1938 in Clatskanie, Oregon wherein he loved to fish in the rivers. The landscape portrayed in the video seems very old and depressing (old houses, rusty old cars etc.). His father was an alcoholic which was, unfortunately, eventually passed down to his son, Raymond. His father used to buy him books, when he was a child, which was a reason to him becoming a writer. His first stories were often centered around hard working people, who could barely make it, money-wise. In 1957 Carver married a woman named Maryann Burk, with whom he had two children. They themselves had a lot of monetary issues and could barely make a living, but Carver still wanted to write. They worked hard and his wife worked at several different places e.g. cafés. His stubbornness finally paid off and he got a scholarship for Stanford University. After that he started teaching, and that was the beginning of his alcoholism. Their life got more and more hectic from here on. Carver was even hospitalized for alcoholism four times. It was during the first hospitalization that Carver’s first collection of short stories: “Will You Please Be Quiet, Please”. Eventually Carver and Burk were divorced in 1982, which lead to Carver’s second marriage with poet Tess Gallagher, even though that had been living together for a long time before the divorce. He married Gallagher in 1988 just two weeks before his death. After having met Gallagher he never touched alcohol again.
Carver became interested in writing in California, where he had moved with his family because his mother-in-law had a home nearby. Carver attended a creative writing course that was taught by the novelist John Gardner. John Gardner became a mentor and had a major influence on Raymond Carver's life and career. The first story Carver published was “The Furious Seasons”, and it was released in 1961.
Carver's career was dedicated to short stories and poetry. He described himself as being "inclined toward brevity and intensity" and "hooked on writing short stories". Another stated reason for his brevity was "that the story or poem can be written and read in one sitting." This was not simply a preference but, particularly at the beginning of his career, a practical consideration as he juggled writing with work. His subject matter was often focused on blue-collar experience, and was clearly reflective of his own life. He often used his own experiences when writing, just like Hemingway and his literature was minimalistic. In his newest books there was a new level of transcendence.