The attractive power of "Simple" Stories: the complexity of everyone’s life and relationships
I think all of us who have read the Raymond Carver stories (Raymond Carver: Where I’m Calling From, Vintage Books, 1989; Raymond Carver: Call if You Need Me, Vintage Books, 2001) have probably noticed how true and grounded In reality. This does not necessarily mean that they are based solely on Carver’s autobiographical elements, but rather on his keen observation skills. The fact that they “speak” to us means, however, that no matter how much they tell the story of a specific person or specific couple, they are universal in the characters and situations they describe.
This fact, along with Carver’s conscientiousness and engaging writing style, make his stories one of the masterpieces of American fiction. Carver’s stories revolve around issues of intimacy and relationships; of couples and their struggles; breakdowns and advances. As such, they represent, in front of our eyes, real episodes of everyday life, common, to one degree or another, to all of us.
As such, Carver’s stories appear, on the surface, to be “simple”; common day experiences; experiences that each of us could have gone through. But the definition of “simple” is misleading, since complex relationships, while common to many of us, are never simple. And even though we could all have gone through experiences of love, intimacy, divorce, unemployment and drunkenness, themes that are described over and over again in Carver’s stories, none of us have ever felt that these were “simple” events. What could we do. They have passed and they have left us behind, as if nothing had happened, as if this is life, as if there is no reason to expect otherwise.
We were drawn to Carver’s stories as they reminded each of us of at least some similar episodes and situations that have occurred in our own lives. Their stories, therefore, reflect to us some of the experiences that we ourselves have had. At times they clarify to us whatever it is that we ourselves have gone through, or, as well, make us better understand that whatever we have gone through – in our relationships, with our partners, with our inner state-of-mind – is “normal”; is “common”, it is standard (even if for us personally it is no standard). But all of this only makes Carver’s stories even more impressive, even more “universal” in nature. And we can’t help but be amazed by his keen eyes and graceful observations of human nature, of our human nature.
Such “simple” stories make us aware of the complex problems in our own lives and relationships. They touch us, in one way or another, and motivate us to reflect on our own situations, past and / or present friendships / relationships, achievements and failures alike.
As such, they not only give us the pleasure of reading, but also, like it or not, force us to look inward, retrospectively, to “compare” our life circumstances with those of the characters we read about, and contemplate. , while we read and / or afterwards, topics from our own life.
The attractive power of Raymond Carver’s stories, therefore, is their ability to engage us in other people’s life stories and, at the same time, make us reflect on our own.
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