Chronology

Raymond Carver is born on May 25 in Clatskanie, Oregon.

He begins dating 14-year-old Maryann Burk who works at a bakery with his mother.

Carver and Maryann are married June 7 and move into a basement apartment below a doctor's office which they clean at night in lieu of paying rent. Maryann gives birth to their daughter Christine LaRae on December 2.

Carver, Maryann, and their daughter move to Paradise, California where Carver begins taking classes at Chico State College. Their second child Vance Lindsay is born on October 19.

The family moves to Eureka, California where Carver continues to study writing at Humboldt State College. His first published short story "The Furious Seasons" appears in Selection, the Chico State literary magazine.

On May 11, Carver's one-act play Carnations is performed on campus and is poorly received by the audience and critics. In September, his poem titled "The Brass Ring" is published in Targets and his short story "Pastoral" is published in Western Humanities Review.

Carver receives a B.A. in English from Humboldt State, then enrolls in the M.F.A. program at Iowa University. The family moves into a trailer park in Iowa City.

After completing only 1 year of the 2-year M.F.A. program, Carver leaves school to focus on writing and also takes a job at a sawmill in Klamath, California.

The family enjoy some financial stability in Sacramento, California where Carver works as a night janitor at a hospital, where he finishes his duties quickly, and is able to write for the rest of his shift.

The short story "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?" is published in December.

Carver begins another master's program at the University of Iowa's School of Library Science. "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?" is included in the anthology Best American Short Stories 1967. Carver is introduced to Gordon Lish.

The poetry collection Near Klamath, Carver's first book is published.

Gordon Lish, then editor of Esquire magazine encourages Carver to submit his stories.

The short story "The Neighbors" is accepted for publication by Esquire magazine. Lish edits it and shortens the title to "Neighbors".

After receiving one year severance from his job, Carver is able to spend all his time writing. He is introduced to many people on the literary scene, begins abusing alcohol, and has an affair with writer Diane Cecily.

Accepts a position as visiting lecturer at the Iowa Writers' Workshop while still retaining his job at UC Santa Cruz. There, he meets fellow resident John Cheever and they begin drinking heavily together. Carver enjoys increasing success as a writer.

Carver is deeply in debt and files for bankruptcy. He and Maryann are both arrested for impaired driving. He begins to feel increasingly ill due to his alcoholism.

Deathly ill, Carver enters a short-term treatment center in San Jose and suffers a withdrawal seizure.

Carver's third book of poetry is published and his first book of short stories, "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?" is published. These stories are all edited by Lish. Carver is hospitalized multiple times and he and Maryann decide to live apart.

Living alone, Carver tries and fails repeatedly to quit drinking, eventually finding success in an Alcoholics Anonymous program and taking his last drink this year. He receives an advance from McGraw-Hill for his first novel, which is never completed. He meets Tess Gallagher who is a twice-divorced poet, essayist, and creative writing teacher.

Carver is accepted for a Guggenheim Fellowship. He and Maryann separate on July 24 and Carver begins to correspond with Gallagher.

Carver and Gallagher move in together and Carver writes many new stories including, "Gazebo", "Pie", and "Beginners".

Lish heavily edits the stories in What We Talk About When We Talk About Love for publication. Carver begs him to revert the changes he made or cancel the project but Lish convinces him to have them published with the edits.

"The Bath" wins Columbia magazine's Carlos Fuentes Fiction Award. Carver works as a professor in the English Department at Syracuse University.

A partially restored version of "The Bath" titled "A Small, Good Thing" is published in Ploughshares.

The relationship between Lish and Carver ends after Carver insists on having full control over his writing. A fully restored version of "A Small, Good Thing" is published by another editor at Knopf which several reviewers conclude is the better version of the story.

Four of Carver's stories are published in The New Yorker and a profile is written about him and Gallagher in Vanity Fair.

Carver is diagnosed with cancer.

After a brief hospitalization, Carver dies at his home on August 2. He is inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.