aymond Carver identified himself
as "a full-time member of the
working poor. " Born in
Clatskanie, Oregon. Carver grew up
thinking that, like his father, he would go
to work in a lumber mill after high school.
But six months in the mills was enough;he
knew he wanted more. With his wife and
their two young children, Carver moved to
northern California, where he began
college on a partial scholarship.
One of his teachers, the novelist John
Gardner, helped Carver to revive his
childhood interest in making up stories
and encouraged him to find his own voice
as a writer. Working nights at a
succession of blue-collar jobs, Carver used
the days to learn to write. Because the
house was always noisy, he often worked
in the family car. Because his writing time
was limited, he concentrated on short
pieces-a poem or story-that could be
finished in one sitting. Carver also worked
to strip the stories down to the bare
minimum"cutting them to the bone, and
then cutting them a bit more," he joked.
His first collection of stories- “Will You
Please Be Quiet, Please” (1976)-led
reviewers to speak of "Carver country," a
fictional world in which working-class
people struggle to make sense of their
lives, or failing that, simply to get through
them. But Carver had also been troubled
bled by alcoholism, which finally led him
to stop writing and destroyed his family
life.