Citesc cea mai frumoasa carte pe anul asta: Raymond Carver A writer’s life” by Carol Sklenicka

Biografia domnului cu minunatele povestiri scurte minimaliste publicate si la noi la Polirom: Taci te rog, Despre ce vorbim cind vorbim despre iubire, Catedrala.

Sunt fascinata de efortul doamnei Sklenicka care a cercetat 10 ani viata lui Carver, cu sute de interviuri si documente.

Iar cartea ma face sa-l iubesc si mai tare pe Carver; omul asta genial a ajuns la acuratetea propozitiilor sale minimaliste cu un efort uluitor, cu o perseverenta draceasca, luptindu-se nu doar cu senzatiile pe care trebuia sa le aseze intre cuvinte, ci si cu demonii sai interiori.

De multa vreme n-am mai dormit cu o carte la cap (la propriu, la cap; mi-a facut si cucuie pentru ca e f mare, cartonata si f grea si ma mai lovesc noaptea in somn de ea:) ), tot asa cum de mult n-am mai mingiat cu atit de mult drag coperta unei carti.

Iata citeva fragmente
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1954, carver avea 15 ani

At first, Ray associated the problem of writing with the literal act of placing the words on paper. His family didn’t own a typewriter.
His three semesters of typing classes may have profited him more than the rest of his high school curriculum.
“I want to be right in there with all the rest of the guys. But I also whanted to write” ray told an interviewer years later.(…) Ray enrolled in a correspondence course offered by the Palmer Institute of Authorship in Hollywood.
(…) The first lesson, “Essential Elements of a Short Story and How to Develop Them” arrived in a manila envelope addressed to ray. (…)

Why people read
… In a well writer story the reader is planted into the shoes of the main character, shares his trials and tribulations, read his thoughts, feel the thrill of his exciting experiences, worries over his difficulties, and rejoices with him in his success. The reader for the moment is taken out of himself and in the person of the story character, lives a life of adventures, romance, achievement he would like to live if only he had the chance – the wit – and the courage. Many of timid John Doe loses himself in a story of daring deeds such as he would never have the nerve to perform in real life.

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1963 Carver avea 24 ani, nevasta – Maryann – si 2 copii (4 si 5 ani)

Just after March 4, 1963, the date William Carlos Williams died, Ray called Day at two in the morning and said “Bad news. Meet me”. (…) What was troubling Ray that night was that both Hemingway and Williams were now dead. Ray confessed to Day that he was not ready to take the place of either one. Perhaps he was kidding, but Day thought not.

catre Writers Workshop in Iowa City, in vara lui 63

They had thirty one dollars, an old car, and two kids. Before they were out of town, the battery went dead. So they bought a new battery and started off to Iowa with one dollar. At mealtimes, they stopped somewhere, and Maryann went in and told them she was an expert waitress and would work two hours if they would feed the family. They traveled all the way to Iowa that way.

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Raymond Carver A writer’s life nu a fost inca tradusa la noi, a aparut de doar citeva saptamini in America, dar voi face lobby ca sa fie publicata si in romania