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Minimalism by Raymond Carver

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Minimalism by Raymond Carver
Literary Criticism
Minimalism by Raymond Carver

English 210
P. Fishman Research Paper Literary Criticism on Minimalism by Raymond Carver

Raymond Carver was a master of the short story during the mid nineteenth century due to his unique minimalistic style. Carver has his own artistic signature when it comes to writing, he tells his stories using the least amount of words possible to get a point across. This method leads to a creative piece of literature with strategically placed vocabulary to stimulate hidden meaning and different forms of communication throughout the plots as shown in “The Bath”, “A Small, Good Thing” and “Cathedral”. Carver’s use of minimalism was an intelligent way to allow readers to make their own personal connections and analogies of hidden messages throughout his stories. Minimalistic writing is when less means more.
Many Critics refer to Raymond Carver as one of the greatest practitioners of American short stories due to the complexity of his omissive style. In the critical analysis “Narrowed Voice: Minimalism by Raymond Carver”, the author Michael Trussler discusses the significance and mechanics of minimalistic writing in Raymond Carvers short stories. Minimalism is often used in short stories because they provide a perfect foundation for this unique writing style. The goal of a minimalistic writer is to squeeze as much detail and meaning into a story with the least words possible. Carver leaves out words that are not necessary to get his point across, which limits the reader’s ability to interoperate the significance and meaning throughout the text. Carver’s stories are abrupt and include moments of silence, which can cause versatile interpretations depending on the individual reader. This is how minimalism is designed to work; some fragments of a story are not as straight forward as


Cited: Trussler, Michael. “Narrowed Voice: Minimalism and Raymond Carver.” Studies in Short Fiction (1994): 1-12. Proquest Research Library. Web. 07 Nov. 2011 <http://www.proquest.com>. Decker, Christof. “Faces in the Mirror: Raymond Carver and the intricacies of looking” Literature Resource Center. Gale, 2004. Web. 07 20011. <http://go.galegroup.com>. Aubrey, Bryan. “Critical Essay on A Small Good Thing.” Short Stories for Students. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. Vol. 23. Detroit: Gale, 2006. Literature Resource Center. Web. 7 Nov. 2011. <http://go.galegroup.com>. Charters, Ann & Samuel Charters. Literature And its Writers, Fifth Edition, Bedford/St. Martins, Boston, 2010.
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