Discover Raymond Carver
August 25th 2006 03:27
Hi everyone! Well, this is my first blog and I apologize if it’s a bit basic. Want to get something on here and will make some changes as I get a bit of practice in. If you love books and reading, visit me often. I work with all formats, everything from books for babies, to adult non-fiction. And I love them all! Will try and supply you with information about good reads, topical stuff, authors, anything really to do with reading. Look forward to corresponding with you.
Discovering Ray Carver
How does one go about finding a new author to read? Well, in my experience it’s seldom from a best-seller list, and not always easy to get your hands on. My son asked me the other day if I had heard about the new Australian movie, ‘Jindabyne’. I told him I had heard about it, but knew nothing as yet, why? He then went on to say that he had read a blurb on it and the story was very familiar to him, as it was exactly the story Paul Kelly tells in his song ‘Everything’s Turning To White’. We’re big Paul Kelly fans in our house and know all his songs, so this was interesting news to us. Had they made a movie from one of Kelly’s songs, or had he written a song about a story?
As a librarian this was exactly the sort of mystery that suits me, so off I went on my mission. Frankly, it wasn’t difficult to uncover the truth here, but my discovery of a new author was the reward. My delving revealed that the storyline of the movie ‘Jindabyne’, and beautifully told in Kelly’s song, came from a short story written by American author, Raymond Carver, titled ‘So Much Water, So Close To Home’. OK, that’s fine, I thought. As one who always likes to read a book before seeing the film, (for obvious reasons, but we won’t start on that) I then proceeded to search for this book. Once again my thanks was sent to the Internet God, (what ever you perceive him to be) because it was not hard to find out that the story I was after came from a book of short stories by Carver called Furious Seasons. And yes, I could buy it. I could purchase a copy for $80 US. Hang on … I don’t even know if I like this guy! Then a little more delving informed me that I could pay anything up to $2000. I was after a rare book, it seems. By this time I’m thinking, “Come on, why haven’t the publishers re-printed.”
Anyway, my next move was a library. After all, I work in one. But all my catalogue searches came up with, well, nothing. So my next move had to be an inter-library loan. Surely there was a library somewhere near-by with a copy. I can now confidently inform you that there are only two borrowable copies of Raymond Carver’s Furious Seasons in Australia. One at the National Library in Canberra, and one in the University of Adelaide. That’s it.
And yes, I did get a copy in from Canberra, and yes I have read it. He is one of the most interesting reads I have had in a long time. His stories literally brim with untold possibilities, but he leaves every one of them entirely up to the reader. A true master of the short story, he is a miserly writer who holds most everything back, just throwing you little tidbits to taste, and believe me, that can become a huge appetite! But if you take in every detail, and listen carefully to his voice, the full picture forms before you. And I strongly suspect that, written any other way, the meaning would be lost completely. If you can get a copy (from somewhere) I strongly recommend you read it, and let me know what you think.
Postscript: It would seem that the reason Carver’s books have not been re-printed is because he owns the copyright to his stories, and he died in 1988. Bad luck for us.
Discovering Ray Carver
How does one go about finding a new author to read? Well, in my experience it’s seldom from a best-seller list, and not always easy to get your hands on. My son asked me the other day if I had heard about the new Australian movie, ‘Jindabyne’. I told him I had heard about it, but knew nothing as yet, why? He then went on to say that he had read a blurb on it and the story was very familiar to him, as it was exactly the story Paul Kelly tells in his song ‘Everything’s Turning To White’. We’re big Paul Kelly fans in our house and know all his songs, so this was interesting news to us. Had they made a movie from one of Kelly’s songs, or had he written a song about a story?
As a librarian this was exactly the sort of mystery that suits me, so off I went on my mission. Frankly, it wasn’t difficult to uncover the truth here, but my discovery of a new author was the reward. My delving revealed that the storyline of the movie ‘Jindabyne’, and beautifully told in Kelly’s song, came from a short story written by American author, Raymond Carver, titled ‘So Much Water, So Close To Home’. OK, that’s fine, I thought. As one who always likes to read a book before seeing the film, (for obvious reasons, but we won’t start on that) I then proceeded to search for this book. Once again my thanks was sent to the Internet God, (what ever you perceive him to be) because it was not hard to find out that the story I was after came from a book of short stories by Carver called Furious Seasons. And yes, I could buy it. I could purchase a copy for $80 US. Hang on … I don’t even know if I like this guy! Then a little more delving informed me that I could pay anything up to $2000. I was after a rare book, it seems. By this time I’m thinking, “Come on, why haven’t the publishers re-printed.”
Anyway, my next move was a library. After all, I work in one. But all my catalogue searches came up with, well, nothing. So my next move had to be an inter-library loan. Surely there was a library somewhere near-by with a copy. I can now confidently inform you that there are only two borrowable copies of Raymond Carver’s Furious Seasons in Australia. One at the National Library in Canberra, and one in the University of Adelaide. That’s it.
And yes, I did get a copy in from Canberra, and yes I have read it. He is one of the most interesting reads I have had in a long time. His stories literally brim with untold possibilities, but he leaves every one of them entirely up to the reader. A true master of the short story, he is a miserly writer who holds most everything back, just throwing you little tidbits to taste, and believe me, that can become a huge appetite! But if you take in every detail, and listen carefully to his voice, the full picture forms before you. And I strongly suspect that, written any other way, the meaning would be lost completely. If you can get a copy (from somewhere) I strongly recommend you read it, and let me know what you think.
Postscript: It would seem that the reason Carver’s books have not been re-printed is because he owns the copyright to his stories, and he died in 1988. Bad luck for us.
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Comment by Anonymous
I'm a huge Raymond Carver fan, and I just had to correct you. The story, 'So Much Water So Close to Home' is readily available in most bookstores in Australia. A basic search on the net will reveal that Carver published many different collections of stories, and 'Furious Seasons' is just one of those - you will find some of his stories may occur in more than one collection. 'So Much Water So Close to Home' is also available in 'Fires: Essays, Poems, Stories'. In fact, this book was bought for me as a present from a Melbourne bookstore, as were all his other books (some from Readings, some from Borders, etc). Being a seminal figure in American literary fiction, I would say Borders (the American chain) would have a good selection of his work.
Comment by Joanne
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Joanne