Abstract
Dirty realism is the fiction of American authors who write about the dark side of contemporary life. Raymond Carver is one of the best representatives of this generation. His stories constitute a new voice in fiction. In fact, he writes about ordinary things in a simple language that depicts the pain and suffering rather than hope. His literary world reflects the chaotic life of his characters which results in short stories about unhappy marriages and people who continue living a futile life just because there is nothing else left to do. Carver's aim is to convey through language and symbols the special moments when these people's empty lives are separated from chaos. These stories are set in the North-Eastern part of the Pacific Ocean and revolve around the lives of farmers, alcoholics, secretaries, mechanics and other ordinary people. They appear in familiar surroundings and focus on trivial issues and what is more they are endowed with subtle descriptions of objects given through regional dialect. It is his skill to understand and portray the sensations of the characters that shows how the real life of common people in the years '70s and '80s in the USA really was. In this paper I intend to make a detailed analysis of the features of this dark realism in Carver's work. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n22p385
Highlights
There are authors who are verbose and others who are spare
Does Raymond Carver fall in the latter category, he is the master of the understatement
He is considered as one of the greatest short story writers of the 20th century
Summary
There are authors who are verbose and others who are spare. does Raymond Carver fall in the latter category, he is the master of the understatement. Unlike the works of many other writers, Carver leaves it to the reader to decide, who, if any of these people, is truly a victim or villain In asking his readers to go deeper into the psyches of his characters, the reader is encouraged to evolve alternate methods of viewing certain lifestyles, choices, and mistakes. Carver has taken the “dirty” reality of day-to-day life and explored it His characters feel like real people, their lives look like real lives, their relationships are complex and personal. Carver's use of first person narrative, ambiguity, epiphany, and symbolism are the technical aspects explored that emphasize the plight of the foreclosed and diffused character who must break free of the bonds of passivity by stepping forward into moratorium What he does in his stories is combine weariness with wonder, cruelty of life with a moment of relief. 2.Major Themes Carver repeats several essential themes that coincide with the reading of most stories in his work
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