Fires: Essays, Poems, Stories (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

"You should read Fires now. These stories and poems...show the enormous talent of Raymond Carver beginning to take hold."

-- San Francisco Chronicle

"Seminal in Carver studies...A disparate collection of work bound by a unity of vision and obsession."

-- Los Angeles Herald Examiner

"Carver's most revealing book...This collection confirms the worth of Raymond Carver's work...Like bright birds in distant trees, Carver's stories appear in flashes, glimpses; Fires reveals the arc of his purposeful flight."

-- Boston Globe

From the Inside Flap

"You should read Fires now. These stories and poems...show the enormous talent of Raymond Carver beginning to take hold."

-- San Francisco Chronicle

"Seminal in Carver studies...A disparate collection of work bound by a unity of vision and obsession."

-- Los Angeles Herald Examiner

"Carver's most revealing book...This collection confirms the worth of Raymond Carver's work...Like bright birds in distant trees, Carver's stories appear in flashes, glimpses; Fires reveals the arc of his purposeful flight."

-- Boston Globe

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (June 18, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679722394
• ISBN-13: 978-0679722397
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #371,810 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	Rizzo (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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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. ...MZRIZZ.

2 of 2 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)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The fire this time , April 6, 2005

By	Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This review relates to the poems, and not the essays and the stories. The poems are among Carver's best. They mark out the time of life when he is most deeply disturbed. So the poems about alcoholism ( although this is not the right way of saying it because they are never simply just about that) are among the most moving. His long poem on Charles Bukowski is very effective. It gives a sense of how this kind of 'portrait of another person' by seeing the world through his voice, can truly be an insight into the writer's own life also. Of course the poems about marital discord and break -up also tear at the heart. Carver writes "Someone else is raising my children, and bedding my wife" .
All in all the honesty, the direct language and feeling, the storytelling power , the sense of appreciation of everyday seeing and feeling of life- all this work together to make these poems of fire ,poems which even when they tell of destruction give off a burning light.