Disjunction versus Communion in Raymond Carver's Short Stories

Disjunction versus Communion in Raymond Carver's Short Stories

Raymond Carver, poet, essayist, and short story writer, was very

different from some other writers in that he clipped his writing until only the

essential remained. " Carver not only acknowledged the effect that fiction

could have on readers, he proclaimed that it should affect readers."( Bonetti

58) Thus, when Carver writes about intimate relationships, the reader perceives

the stories as more than entertainment or skillful language; the reader relates

to the characters' situations and applies the knowledge to their own lives. It

is within this realm of character affirmation that Carver draws a much more

elaborate, and meaningful detail in his short stories. I propose that Carver's

characters either connect or fail to connect on an intimate, spiritual level.

It is this difference in his short stories which either draw the reader into or

away from the meaning. These relations make certain writings in Carver's stories

more interesting.

More directly, it is the communion in his later writings, and the

disjunction in his earlier writings, that distinguish the two types of styles.

Communion within the characters of Carver's later writings, as in his

collections in Cathedral, create much more depth and interest in his stories.

It is within this scope of communion that Carver's stories seem to become more

fulfilling with character affirmation.

Communion occurs in Carver's stories when several conditions are

satisfied. The difference in the two criteria; communion and disjunction, is

simply defined. "Communion, n 1. A sharing of thoughts or feelings 2. a A

religious or spiritual fellowship." (Websters, 141) It is a connection

between characters which allows them to transcend the ordinary and redefine

themselves. A moment in which words, actions, and objects take on exaggerated

significance . Carver uses this bond between characters in his later writings

more directly, such as in his anthology Cathedral. You must first initialize

an intimate interaction between two or more characters who can communicate---

either verbally or physically. If an individual is still projecting his/her

personality onto another, that individual has not experienced the loss of self-

awareness which is necessary for communion. Another important element for this

experience is touch. The charac...

... middle of paper ...

...ders and move them to

action in their own lives.

Works Cited

Bonetti, Kay. " Ray Carver: Keeping." Conversations with Raymond Carver.

Marshall Bruce Gentry and William L. Stull, eds. Jackson, Mississippi

:University Press of Mississippi, 1990. 53-61.

Carver, Raymond. Cathedral. New York: Vintage Books, 1989.

---. No Heroics Please. New York: Vintage Books, 1992.

---. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. New York: Vintage Books, 1989.

Davis, Alan. " The Holiness of Ordinary. " Hudson Review. Vol.45 Winter 1993:

653-658

Gardner, John. On Moral Fiction. New York: Basic Books, Inc., Publishers, 1978.

Halpert, Sam. " Interviews" …when we talk about Raymond Carver. Peregrine

Smith, Library of Congress Cataloging-in-publishing, 1991. 51-84

Sexton, David. " David Sexton talks to Raymond Carver." Conversations With

Raymond Carver. Marshall Bruce Gentry and William L.Stull, eds. Jackson,

Mississippi: University of Mississippi, 1990. 120-132.

Stull, William L. " Matters of Life and Death. " Conversations with Raymond

Carver. Marshall Bruce Gentry and William L. Stull eds. Jackson, Mississippi:

University Press of Mississippi, 1990. 177-191.