Art Imitates Life
Short stories and their authors have a long and deep history in literature. The short story has had its ups and downs, with popular periods and very out of style eras. One writer who helped to make them popular again was a man named Raymond Carver. He authored dozens of short stories and released several books of these collections to rave reviews. He became one of Americas’ most critically acclaimed short story authors. A look at his life, and influences also helps us to understand the writings of the man himself, and how our art is never truly far from our hearts.
Raymond Carver was born in 1938 and spent most of his earlier years growing up in Washington and Northern California. His family was closer to poverty than one would feel comfortable with and Raymond childhood went quickly. He was married by the age of 19 and a father by the age of 20. While his wife and himself tried to juggle college, work and their two children, Carver began what would turn into a lifetime struggle with drinking. His alcoholism was a source of great pain in his life, and would later be the focus of many of his short stories.
During his first marriage Carver began his writing career. Between jobs and school he managed to write several short stories, and produce a play. He eventually began to get notoriety for his writing, and by 1970 had received a National Endowment for the Arts Award as well as published his first book, “Winter Insomnia.” However, his drinking worsened and this began to affect everything in his life. He had secured a teaching job at UC Santa Cruz but continued to live in Iowa, where he commuted to on weekends. This soon put a strain on his already delicate marriage. The couple’s financial problems were also of paramount concern, and a continued source of stress. They filed for bankruptcy twice, and were constantly trying to catch up. Raymond Carver and his first wife, Maryann eventually divorced. Between 1976 and 1977 Raymond Carver was hospitalized for acute alcoholism and related problems four times. He resigned from his teaching position at UC Santa Cruz and his writing career fell into a slump.
In 1977 though, Raymond Carver stopped drinking. This was probably the biggest turning point in his life, because although he only lived until 1988, these last ten years were his most successful. Much of this success is attributed to two things, being sober and the new woman in his life, Tess Gallagher. The two writers met and fell in love, and remained together until his death from lung
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