レイモンド・カーヴァー没後10周年記念祭・追悼朗読会参加報告およびその文学の再評価

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Raymond Carver was one of the most influential American short-story writers and poet of the 1980's. August 2 of this year was the 10th anniversary of his death. I was invited by Carver's widow, poet and short-story writer, Tess Gallagher, to the ceremony and reading. The intent of this essay is to report my experience of attending those special events and to evaluate Ray Carver's literature, arguing aeainst D.T.Max's disturbingly critical article in The New York Times Magazine on August 9. Max attempts to expose editor Gordon Lish's involvement with Carver's early short stories and doubts the authenticity of much of Carver's works. Carver's essence is not in minimalism, which his editor tried to promote, but in precisionism and more amplified narrative, which Carver pursued after departure from editor Lish.