Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Institute for English/American Studies
Winter Term 05/06
HpS: "The ‘New Realism’ in Contemporary American Short Fiction"

"Minimalism" in Raymond Carver’s "Collectors"

Name: Mathias Keller

Table of Contents

I. Introduction 2

II. Setting and Point of View 3

III. Characterization of the Protagonists 5
A. The I-Narrator 5
B. Aubrey Bell 8
C. The Development of their Relation 12

IV. Unfamiliar Actions and Events 13

V. Conclusion 16

VI. Bibliography 19
A. Primary Sources 19
B. Secondary Sources 19

I. Introduction

Raymond Carver’s "Collectors"¹ is part of the often underrated trend² in contemporary American short fiction which is called "Minimalism" or "New Realism". Its most significant characteristic, in contrast to "Postmodernism", is that it returns to the realistic depiction of everyday life (mimesis) in the American society. Raymond Carver can be labelled as one dominant representative of this movement and he writes in most cases about the trivialities of everyday life. Very frequently he constructs stories with a depressive and hopeless mood due to the failure of personal relationships between the protagonists. Then, alcoholism is their last refuge. Furthermore, Carver admired Hemingway and adopted some very interesting techniques from his literary idol. Indeed, the most prevailing one was Carver’s imitation of the "Iceberg-Theory"³ in his stories. Hemingway states that in a story only about 1/8, like the top of an iceberg, should be told and 7/8, the part underneath the water, should be discovered by the reader. The latter represents for Hemingway as well as for Carver the most important part of a short story. Wolfgang Iser wrote in his books on the aesthetics of reception about the analogous technique of blanks/omission.⁴ He states, that the main issues lie underneath the plain and fragmentary surface of narration. Accordingly, the story depends on speculations by the reader, which are intended by the author, and often a high level of previous knowledge is required to understand all circumstances and motivations of the characters. Due to the variety of speculations it can be doubted that a coherent interpretation of a text with a lot of blanks is possible. However, they certainly do create an enormous effect.

In the seemingly simple low-rent tragedy "Collectors", "Carver’s most minimalistic [story],"⁵ a salesman for vacuum cleaners enters the house and life of the I-narrator. A multitude of blanks and, moreover, unfamiliar events and actions contribute to a large extend to the high potential of anxiety of the story. In the following, I will first reveal the most significant blanks concerning the setting, the point of view and the two protagonists. By doing so, I will also attempt to fill them. Secondly, I will analyze what is unfamiliar in the story and how events and actions of the two characters amplify the, on the whole, uncanny situation. Finally, I will sum up the main findings of my analysis and evaluate them.

II. Setting and Point of View

In the beginning of the story, the unemployed I –narrator wastes his time by lying on the sofa and waiting for the postman on a rainy day. However, not the anticipated postman with a hopeful letter approaches, instead, it is the ominous vacuum cleaner salesman Aubrey Bell who draws nearer. He is supposed to present some cleaning tools for Mrs. Slater, who is said to be the wife of the I-narrator. As Aubrey Bell states it, her card was drawn in a lottery and "[she] is a winner" (C 114). According to the I-narrator "Mrs. Slater doesn’t live [there]" (Ibid.). Nevertheless, Aubrey Bell forces his way into the house and takes off his hat, coat and galoshes.

[...]

¹ Raymond Carver, "Collectors," Where I’m Calling From. New and Selected Stories (New York: Vintage Books, 1989) 113-120. All page references within the text refer to this edition. [Siglum C]

² Uta Jäggle, Raymond Carvers Kurzprosa: Untersuchungen zu Formen narrativer Reduktion (Aachen: Shaker, 1999) 17. Henceforth, all quotes from secondary sources in German are translated into English.

³ Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast (New York: 1964).

⁴ Wolfgang Iser, Die Appellstruktur der Texte: Unbestimmtheit als Wirkungsbedingung literarischer Prosa (Konstanz: Universitätsverlag, 1970). Also: Wolfgang Iser, Der Akt des Lesens: Theorie ästhetischer Wirkung (München: Fink, 1976). Arthur F. Bethea calls them in his book Technique and Sensibility in the Fiction and Poetry of Raymond Carver (New York; London: Routledge, 2002) on page 36 "indeterminate spots," which denote the same as Iser’s "Leerstellen".

⁵ G. P. Lainsbury, The Carver Chronotope: Inside the Life-World of Raymond Carver’s Fiction (New York: Routledge, 2004) 88.