He puts himself in the blind man's place. The character there is full of prejudices against blind people.

The story 'Cathedral' seemed to me completely different from everything I'd written before. 'Cathedral' is generally considered to be one of Carver's finest works, displaying both his expertise in crafting a minimalist story and also writing about a catharsis with such simple storylines. It is the final story in Carver's collection Cathedral (1983). The short story 'Cathedral' was included in the 1982 edition of Best American Short Stories.

It is the title story of a collection published in 1983: Cathedral. It was the first story written after finishing What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Yellow, red, and black grapes on the sofa table.' Cathedral' is a short story written by American writer and poet Raymond Carver. That would be me kicking my shoes off and switching off the phone, then jumping into the vinyl collection with my guest. One little spoiler I can give out: if I had a friend I wanted to feel welcome and really take a load off, I'd copy the recipe in the story: oven-grilled pork tenderloin with scalloped taters and red wine, followed by dessert and then a joint.

I related so much to the emotionally volatile main character. I read it during Uni English, and it rocked me to my core, how humanely and gracefully Carver could handle the subject of men talking with other men about feelings. 'Cathedral' is feminist too (constructive feminism that erases divides), showing how men suffer from jealousy and turn to passive-aggression and sarcasm when feeling backed into a corner just like anyone else. Kids and teens may have trouble relating to the emotional themes because unless you went to fucking war at age 14 you don't fully see the real bottom of these themes until you are 40-45. Suffice to say that it's a fantastically dry-witted story about an unremarkable event on the face of it, but the real action is between the lines, a universe lives inbetween those lines.Įveryone should read Raymond Carver's 'Cathedral' short story, but also afterwards the wikipage for it, so you don't miss any of the context. I won't talk about the plot details because you deserve to go in blind re: setting and characters.

Raymond carver cathedral book