Fires : Essays, Poems, Stories [Import] [Paperback]

RAYMOND CARVER (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harvill Press / HarperCollins; New Ed edition (January 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0002730103
• ISBN-13: 978-0002730105
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Raymond Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, in 1938. His father was a saw-mill worker and his mother was a waitress and clerk. He married early and for years writing had to come second to earning a living for his young family. Despite, small-press publication, it was not until Will You Please Be Quiet Please? appeared in 1976 that his work began to reach a wider audience. This was the year in which he gave up alcohol, which had contributed to the collapse of his marriage. In 1977 he met the writer Tess Gallagher, with whom he shared the last eleven years of his life. During this prolific period he wrote three collections of stories, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Cathedral and Elephant. Fires, a collection of essays, poems and stories, appeared in 1985, followed by three further collections of poetry. In 1988 he completed the poetry collection A New Path to the Waterfall.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "fires" in his life! - Greatest influences, December 30, 2002

By 

(Rizzo) Rizzuto (Denver) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fires: Essays, Poems, Stories (Paperback)

When Raymond Carver died in 1988 at 50, the literary world lost a truly unique short story writer. Carver, a master at dialogue and often called a minimalist, created stories with substance where a mystery looms beyond the surface, stories so commonplace, with common people doing common things.

It's true, the stories are laced with people who endure alcoholic sadness, financial burdens, emotional immaturity and those just searching for the dream that doesn't quite happen.

We get a glimpse into their lives and these characters reflect everyday America whether it was the 60s or the 90s. Those characters are his life and they are us! Read any Raymond Carver story and you can identify with some element.

Referring to the title, "Fires", Carver is talking about two strong influences in his life, one being Gordon Lish, at that time, a literary editor and the other, John Gardner, who said to become a writer you need the necessary "fire". The profound essays are titled "John Gardner, The Writer as Teacher", and the other is "On Writing." He offers excellent advice.

Carver believes the strongest "fire" he had was his two children, a time he refers to as "ravenous and ferocious years of parenting." He writes of that epiphanous moment in a laundromat, laboring over washers and anxiously waiting with frustration over the next available dryer before picking up the kids. This parental chore was NOT what he envisioned great writers doing.

Sadly, what he means about the children being a great influence in his words: "And I would always have them, and always find myself in this position of unrelieved responsibility and permanent distraction."

The bulk of the book is poems that reflect his life, and the poem about Charles Bukowski is here. If you prefer his literary poems, a wonderful collection is here and just a few other short stories "Distance", "Harry's Death", "The Lie" and an amusing story, "Where is Everyone", the title later revised to "Mr. Fixit." If you know Carver's many stories were revised by Carver or possibly the editors, but this collection includes the longer version of "So Much Water So Close to Home"

And, like any other Carver collection, this is especially good because of his essays on the "fires" in his life. ...Rizzo.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Raymond Carver's Minimalist Prose Provides Maximum Impact, August 7, 1998

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fires: Essays, Poems, Stories (Paperback)

Raymond Carver's "Fires" is a quick introduction to the author who personifies literary minimalism. In this slim volume, the reader is treated to essays and poems, as well as Carver's trademark: taut short stories that, in remarkably few words, paint a vivid tableau of so much of American life. Carver's subjects are ones that other writers shy away from: working-class stiffs and the mundane lives they lead. But Carver's magic lies in his ability to fascinate the reader with seemingly unfascinating topics. The characters' souls are bared, the torment of their lives is revealed, the desperation of their economic situations is rendered so masterfully, and in so little space, that the reader marvels at how Carver manages to accomplish the feat. For students of the writer's trade, Carver offers a valuable lesson in how to use minimal syllables for maximum impact.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The wonderful and aptly named Carver!, July 20, 2007

By 

Charles Casillo - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fires: Essays, Poems, Stories (Paperback)

Carver is a master of the short story but this collection is a good introduction to his poetry as well because it collects both poems and stories. It's a wonderful example of how he used themes from his stories manipulated into shorter poems. As always his exact use of language cuts straight to the heart. Reading Carver's work is like studying with a very great writing teacher.