Suggestions for Further Reading

“Beginners Book Description and Sample Comparisons.” The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/Carver.pdf.

This article, author unknown, would be an excellent resource for someone who wanted to explore the idea of the restored text further because it contains a list of other literary works that have been lost and then restored. There is also a bit of history about the publication of Beginners and a few side-by-side comparisons of stories from the collection with the versions edited by Lish.

Carver, Raymond. All of Us: The Collected Poems, Penguin Random House, 4 Apr 2000.

The poetry of Raymond Carver was not edited by Gordon Lish at any point. In Carver’s poetry, readers can get a sense of his way of expressing deep, heartfelt emotion.

Fuller, Molly. “Intentionality and Narrative Thrust in the Beginners Version of “Why Don’t You Dance?”.” The Raymond Carver Review, Spring 2014, https://www.raymondcarverreview.org/journal-four.

This essay looks at different Raymond Carver story from Beginners, “Why Don’t You Dance?” and compares it against the version that was published in WWTA, edited by Gordon Lish. Fuller argues that Lish’s edits interrupt Carver’s “intention and narrative thrust” as an author. She gives several specific examples from the story and analyses the changes from both the perspective as a critic and a writer of fiction.

King, Stephen. “Raymond Carver’s Life and Stories.” The New York Times, 19 Nov 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/books/review/King-t.html.

Stephen King gives an account of Raymond Carver’s life, telling it with a wonderful narrative voice and does not leave out the less flattering details. He gives a great perspective as a writer and recovering alcoholic for fans of Carver who may struggle with hearing a different voice in Beginners.

Stull, William L., and Maureen P. Carroll. “Prolegomena to Any Future Carver Studies.” Journal of the Short Story in English, vol. 46, March 2006, pp. 13–17.

The editors of The Library of America’s Raymond Carver: Collected Stories discuss their work of presenting Carver’s unedited work and why they feel that is an important job. They believe it is vital for Carver scholars to view his original work in order to fully understand the writer. They also see much more work ahead in order to truly understand Carver’s “unrestrained intentions”.