plastic bag. Hangs it up behind the back seat of the old coupe
and says, “This is the suit your grandpa is going to leave
the world in.” What on earth could he be talking about? I wondered.
8—9 that was going away, along with my grandpa. Those days it
was just another mystery.
10—13 Then there was a long interval, a time in which relatives departed this
way and that, left and right. Then it was my dad’s turn.
I sat and watched him rise up in his own smoke. He didn’t
own a suit. So they dressed him gruesomely
25—7 from the dry cleaners and hung it carefully
behind the back seat. I drove it home, opened the car door
and lifted it out into the sunlight. I stood there a minute
27 RETURN TO KRAKÓW IN 1880 (CZESLAW MILOSZ): The Collected Poems 1931—1987 (New York, NY: Ecco Press, 1988) 416.
28 SUNDAY NIGHT: 1st in December [Highland Park, Ill.] 9.2—3 (1967): 64; in TD 13.
29 THE PAINTER & THE FISH: separately published in a limited edition (Concord, NH: William B. Ewert, 1988).
30 AT NOON (CHEKHOV): from “Across Siberia”, The Unknown Chekhov, vol. 14 of The Tales of Chekhov, trans. Avrahm Yarmolinsky (1954; New York, NY: Ecco Press, 1987) 281.
31 ARTAUD: 1st in Discourse [Concordia College (Moorhead, Minn.)] 9.2 (Spring 1966): 183; in NK [25]. All lines begin with capital letters in 1st and NK. In AUP the sequence of this poem and the following one is reversed.
Title: “Antonin Artaud: From a Photograph” 1st
“Antonin Artaud” NK
5—7 One at the desk, the one with the cigarette and no teeth
To speak of, is prone to boldness, to a certain excess 1st, NK
8 in speech, in gesture / In his speech, his gesture 1st, NK
9 even. But / even, but 1st, NK
10—11 At certain moments, hints broadly of his existence. 1st, NK
12 masterpieces. / masterpieces, 1st, NK
13 hands / hand 1st
14—15 And behind every arras there was a rustling. 1st, NK
32 CAUTION: In AUP the sequence of this poem and the preceding one is reversed.
33 ONE MORE: 1st in Hayden’s Ferry Review [Arizona State Univ.] 4 (Spring 1989): 135—7.
36—7 it occurred to him, he was sick of all business, but he went on in this
fashion, finishing one last letter that should have been 1st, AUP
34 AT THE BIRD MARKET (CHEKHOV): from “The Bird Market”, The Cook’s Wedding and Other Stories, vol. 12 of The Tales of Chekhov, trans. Constance Garnett (1920; New York, NY: Ecco Press, 1986) 236.
35 HIS BATHROBE POCKETS STUFFED WITH NOTES: 1st in Caliban [Ann Arbor, Mich.] 1 (1986): 96—8; separately published in a limited edition “on the occasion of RC’s receiving an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the Univ. of Hartford” on 15 May 1988 (Elmwood, Conn.: Raven Editions, 1988).
6 sixteenth-century / 16th century 1st, Raven
29 in—/ in, 1st, Raven
30 words—/ words, 1st, Raven
31 Three / 3 1st, Raven
37 hook / receiver 1st, Raven, AUP
36 SOME PROSE ON POETRY: 1st in Poetry [Chicago, Ill.] 151.1—2 (Oct.—Nov. 1987): 204—7. Seventy-fifth anniversary issue of Poetry. Untitled in 1st.
37 LETTER: 1st in Michigan Quarterly Review [Univ. of Michigan] 28.1 (Winter 1988): 73—4.
7 our doctor friend, Ruth, / our friend, Dr R.—1st
9 the doctor’s / Dr R.’s 1st
10 that her / her 1st
45—6 stays longest—the hands.” And the woman’s hands. I made a note at the time, as if I could see them anchored on her 1st
38 THE YOUNG GIRLS: 1st in Tendril [Green Harbor, Mass.] 19—20 (1985): 409.
39 from EPILOGUE (ROBERT LOWELL): Day by Day (New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1977) 127.
40 SORREL (CHEKHOV): from “An Unpleasantness”, The Unknown Chekhov, vol. 14 of The Tales of Chekhov, trans. Avrahm Yarmolinsky (1954; New York, NY: Ecco Press, 1987) 142—3.
41 MARGO: 1st in Poetry [Chicago, Ill.] 151.5 (Feb. 1988): 416. A version of “Margo” appears in the AUP of U but does not appear in the finished book. See note this page.
6 Commanding / A commanding U, AUP
10 places / those places U, AUP
42 FIVE O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING (CHEKHOV): from “Difficult People”, The Wife and Other Stories, vol. 5 of The Tales of Chekhov, trans. Constance Garnett (1918; New York, NY: Ecco Press, 1985) 84—5.
43 HUMMINGBIRD: 1st in Poetry [Chicago, Ill.] 154.1 (Apr. 1989): 4.
44 OUT: Lineation differs in AUP.
19—20 about logging for Mormons on Prince of Wales Island (no booze, no
swearing, no women. Just no, except for work
23—5 All morning you’d wanted to tell me something and now you began
to tell me; how your wife wants you out of her life, wants
45 DOWNSTREAM (CHEKHOV): from “Across Siberia”, The Unknown Chekhov, vol. 14 of The Tales of Chekhov, trans. Avrahm Yarmolinsky (1954; New York, NY: Ecco Press, 1987) 289—90; separately published with “Looking for Work” [2] as a broadside (n.p.: 1988).
46 THE NET: 1st in Quarry West [Univ. of California, Santa Cruz] 20 (1984): 49; in Poetry [Chicago, Ill.] 151.1—2 (Oct.—Nov. 1987): 28.
The texts in Poetry and ANP agree. The following is the Quarry West version in full:
Toward evening, the wind changes. What boats
are left on the bay
head for shore. A man with one arm
sits on the keel of a rotting-away boat,
working on a glimmering net.
He raises his eyes. Pulls something to
with his teeth, and bites hard.
I go past without a word.
Reduced to confusion
by the variableness of this weather,
the importunities of my heart.
Then turn back to look.
47 FOREBODING (CHEKHOV): from “Perpetuum Mobile”, The Unknown Chekhov, vol. 14 of The Tales of Chekhov, trans. Avrahm Yarmolinsky (1954; New York, NY: Ecco Press, 1987) 40. Title omitted in AUP.
48 SPARROW NIGHTS (CHEKHOV): from “A Dreary Story”, The Wife and Other Stories, vol. 5 of The Tales of Chekhov, trans. Constance Garnett (1918; New York, NY: Ecco Press, 1985) 203—4, 205.
49 LEMONADE: 1st in Esquire [New York, NY] 112.1 (July 1989): 78—9. A comment by Tess Gallagher accompanies the poem in Esquire: “This is a fictionalized account based on the death of a workman’s child who fell into a river and drowned. It was written in the last months of Ray’s life and is, in that proximity, elegiac of the life he knew he was losing. Read this poem aloud and something else takes hold—Ray’s genius for transmitting subtle inflections of emotion, including humor at the saddest moments. For when a sorrow is too relentlessly pursued, we can’t help ourselves—we laugh, refreshing ourselves for the hardest truths. The poem’s meditation forces reason as far as it will go until it erodes into unreason, and we’re thrown back upon the human voice, calming its pain. Story and prose elements are so strong that the boundary between fiction and poetry gives way. Poetry? Fiction? Who cares. It’s the haunting that matters” (78).
50 SUCH DIAMONDS (CHEKHOV): from “A Nightmare”, The Bishop and Other Stories, vol. 7 of The Tales of Chekhov, trans. Constance Garnett (1919; New York, NY: Ecco Press, 1985) 72.
51 WAKE UP: 1st in Michigan Quarterly Review [Univ. of Michigan] 28.1 (Winter 1988): 71—2; in Poetry [Chicago, Ill.] 154.1 (Apr. 1989): 1—2.
1 Kyborg / Kyburg Poetry
22 And / and, 1st
23 knows—/ knows? 1st
26 Jesu Christo / Jesu Christe Poetry Jesus Christo AUP
52 WHAT THE DOCTOR SAID: 1st in Granta [London] 25 (Autumn 1988): 162.
53 LET’S ROAR, YOUR HONOR (CHEKHOV): from “Across Siberia”, The Unknown Chekhov, vol. 14 of The Tales of Chekhov, trans. Avrahm Yarmolinsky (1954; New York, N
Y: Ecco Press, 1987) 270.
54 PROPOSAL: 1st in Harper’s [New York, NY] 278.1666 (Mar. 1989): 32.
13 oh lethal / Oh lethal 1st
39—40 In Reno, I told her, it’s
marriages and remarriages twenty-four hours a day seven days a week. No 1st
55 CHERISH: 1st in Hayden’s Ferry Review [Arizona State Univ.] 4 (Spring 1989): 134.
13—14 of promise, of treasure. My hand on her wrist to bring her close, her
eyes green as river-moss. Saying it then, against 1st
56 GRAVY: 1st in New Yorker [New York, NY] 64.28 (29 Aug. 1988): 28.
57 NO NEED: 1st in Poetry [Chicago, Ill.] 154.1 (Apr. 1989): 4.
58 AFTERGLOW: 1st in New Yorker [New York, NY] 65.10 (24 Apr. 1989): 36; in the Sunday Times [London] 27 Aug. 1989: G4. Title spelled “After-glow” in copy-text.
59 LATE FRAGMENT: 1st in Granta [London] 25 (Autumn 1988): 167. Accompanied by Tess Gallagher’s essay “Raymond Carver 1938 to 1988”.
Uncollected Poems: No Heroics, Please
First edition: London: Harvill, 1991. Foreword by Tess Gallagher. Publication date: Nov. 1991.
First American edition: New York, NY: Vintage Contemporaries, 1992. Publication date: 24 June 1992.
Dedication: For Georgia Morris Bond. Georgia Morris Bond is Tess Gallagher’s mother, a longtime resident of Port Angeles, Washington.
Epigraph: From an interview with Raymond Carver, “The Art of Fiction LXXVI”, by Mona Simpson, Paris Review [Flushing, NY] 25.88 (Summer 1983): 214.
Copy-text: First edition, first printing, collated and corrected against later editions and printings.
Sequence: Chronological order by first publication.
Small-press sources and separate publications: NK, WI, ANTSM, TD, Two Poems (Ewert, 1986).
1 THE BRASS RING: in Targets [Sandia Park, N. Mex.] 11 (Sept. 1962): 35, NK [33], NHP 75. “The Brass Ring” is RC’s first published poem.
2 BEGINNINGS: 1st in Grande Ronde Review [La Grange: Oreg.] 1.4—5 (n.d. [1965—6]): n. pag. [18]; in NK [12], ANTSM 17, NHP 76.
8 Ranier / Ranier NK
3 ON THE PAMPAS TONIGHT: 1st in Levee [Sacramento State Univ.] 2.2 (Jan. 1967): n. pag. [8]; in TD 4, NHP 94.
4 THOSE DAYS: 1st in Poet and Critic [Iowa State Univ.] 2.3 (Spring 1966): 6; in TD 3, NHP 93. The dedicatee (“C.M.”) has not been identified. In 1st RC’s assigned critics are Paul Baker Newman and S. L. Friedman.
5 THE SUNBATHER, TO HERSELF: 1st in West Coast Review [Simon Fraser Univ.] 2.1 (Spring 1967): 23; in TD 8, NHP 98.
6 NO HEROICS, PLEASE: 1st in December [Highland Park, Ill.] 9.2—3 (1967): 64; in TD 12, NHP 99.
7 ADULTERY: 1st in December [Highland Park, Ill.] 9.2—3 (1967): 65; WI 52—3, NHP 80—1.
8 POEM ON MY BIRTHDAY, JULY 2: 1st in Grande Ronde Review [Folsom, Calif.] 7 [2.1] (n.d. [1967]): 7—8; in TD 5—6, NHP 95—6.
9 RETURN: 1st in Grande Ronde Review [Sacramento, Calif.] 7 [2.1] (n.d. [1967]): 9; in TD 7, NHP 97.
10 FOR THE EGYPTIAN COIN TODAY, ARDEN, THANK YOU: 1st in Kayak [Santa Cruz, Calif.] 16 (1968): 51; in WI 37, NHP 82.
11 IN THE TRENCHES WITH ROBERT GRAVES: in NK [30], ANTSM 26, NHP 77.
Subtitle: “[After reading Goodbye to All That]” ANTSM
12 THE MAN OUTSIDE: in NK [31—2], NHP 78—9.
13 SEEDS: 1st in University of Portland Review [Portland, Oreg.] 22.1 (Spring 1970): 38; in WI 47, NHP 83. The dedicatee is RC’s daughter, Christine LaRae Carver.
14 BETRAYAL: in WI 12, NHP 84.
15 THE CONTACT: in WI 22, NHP 85.
16 SOMETHING IS HAPPENING: in WI 48, NHP 86—7.
17 A SUMMER IN SACRAMENTO: in ANTSM 42—3, NHP 88—90.
18 REACHING: separately published with “Soda Crackers” (below) as Two Poems, a holiday greeting card (Concord, NH: William B. Ewert, 1986); in NHP 91.
19 SODA CRACKERS: separately published with “Reaching” (above) as Two Poems, a holiday greeting card (Concord, NH: William B. Ewert, 1986); in NHP 92.
Appendix 6
Chronology
1938 Raymond Clevie Carver, Jr., born in Clatskanie, Oregon, on 25 May, first child of Clevie Raymond (“C.R.”) Carver (b. 17 September 1913 in Leola, Arkansas) and Ella Beatrice Casey (b. 11 July 1913 in Malvern, Arkansas).
1941 The Carvers move to Yakima, Washington. C.R. works for the Boise Cascade Lumber Company.
1943 RC’s only sibling, James Carver, born in Yakima on 5 August.
1956 RC graduates from Yakima High School in June. He and his mother then follow C.R. to Chester, California, where RC and his father both work in a sawmill. In November, RC returns alone to Yakima.
1957 In February, C.R. suffers a mental and physical breakdown that keeps him unemployed until 1964. On 7 June RC marries sixteen-year-old Maryann Burk in Yakima, where he works as a pharmacy deliveryman. Their daughter Christine LaRae born on 2 December. RC takes classes at Yakima Community College during 1957—8 academic year.
1958 In August, RC moves his wife, daughter, and in-laws to Paradise, California, where he enters nearby Chico State College as a part-time student. His son, Vance Lindsay, born on 19 October.
1959 In June, the Carvers move to Chico, California. In the fall, RC takes Creative Writing 101, taught by John Gardner.
1960 During the spring semester, RC founds and edits the first issue of the Chico State literary magazine, Selection. In June, the Carvers move to Eureka, California, where RC works in the Georgia-Pacific sawmill. In the fall, he transfers to Humboldt State College in nearby Arcata and begins taking classes taught by Richard Cortez Day.
1961 RC’s first published story, “The Furious Seasons”, appears in Selection 2 (Winter 1960—1). A second story, “The Father”, appears in the spring issue of the Humboldt State literary magazine, Toyon. In June, the Carvers move to Arcata, California.
1962 RC’s first play, Carnations, is performed at Humboldt State College on 11 May. His first published poem, “The Brass Ring”, appears in the September issue of Targets.
1963 In February, RC receives his A.B. degree from Humboldt State. During the spring, he edits Toyon. RC receives a $500 fellowship for a year’s graduate study at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. After spending the summer in Berkeley, where RC works in the University of California library, the Carvers move to Iowa City, Iowa.
1964—6 In June 1964, the Carvers return to California and settle in Sacramento, where RC is hired as a day custodian at Mercy Hospital. After one year, he transfers to the night shift. In the fall of 1966, RC joins a poetry workshop led by Dennis Schmitz at Sacramento State College.
1967 The Carvers file for bankruptcy in the spring. Clevie Raymond Carver dies on 17 June. On 31 July RC is hired as a textbook editor at Science Research Associates (SRA). In August, the Carvers move to Palo Alto, California, where RC meets the editor and writer Gordon Lish. RC’s story “Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?” is included in The Best American Short Stories 1967.
1968—9 In the spring of 1968, RC’s first book, Near Klamath (poems), is published by the English Club of Sacramento State College. Maryann Carver receives a one-year scholarship to Tel-Aviv University, and RC takes a year’s leave of absence from SRA. The Carvers move to Israel in June but return to California in October. From November 1968 until February 1969 they live with relatives in Hollywood, where RC sells movie theater programs. In February, he is rehired by SRA as “advertising director”, and the Carvers move to San Jose, California. RC’s period of increasingly heavy drinking begins.
1970 RC receives a National Endowment for the Arts Discovery Award for poetry. In June, the Carvers move to Sunnyvale, California. RC’s story “Sixty Acres” is included in The Best Little Magazine Fiction, 1970, and his first regularly published book, Winter Insomnia (poems), is issued by Kayak Books. On 25 September, RC’s job at SRA is terminated. Severance pay and unemployment benefits allow him to write full-time for nearly a year.
1971 Gordon Lish, now fiction editor of Esquire,
publishes RC’s story “Neighbors” in the magazine’s June issue. RC is appointed visiting lecturer in creative writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz, for 1971—2, and in August the Carvers move to Ben Lomond, California. RC’s story “Fat” appears in the September issue of Harper’s Bazaar.
1972 RC receives a Wallace E. Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University for 1972—3 and a concurrent appointment as visiting lecturer in fiction writing at UC Berkeley. In July, the Carvers buy a house in Cupertino, California.
1973 RC is appointed a visiting lecturer at the Iowa Writers’Workshop for 1973—4. His story “What Is It?” is included in the O. Henry Awards annual, Prize Stories 1973, and five of his poems are reprinted in New Voices in American Poetry.
1974 RC is appointed visiting lecturer at UC Santa Barbara for 1974—5. Alcoholism and family problems force him to resign in December, and the Carvers subsequently file for their second bankruptcy. Unemployed, RC returns to Cupertino, California. He remains there with his family for the next two years, during which he does little writing.
1976 At Night the Salmon Move, RC’s third book of poetry, is published by Capra Press in February. In March, his first major-press book, the short-story collection Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? is published by McGraw-Hill under its Gordon Lish imprint. Between October 1976 and January 1977, RC undergoes four hospitalizations for acute alcoholism. The Carvers’ house in Cupertino is sold in October, and RC and his wife live apart.
1977 Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? receives a National Book Award nomination. RC moves alone to McKinleyville, California, and on 2 June he stops drinking. Reunited with his wife, he continues living in McKinleyville through the year. In November, Furious Seasons and Other Stories is published by Capra Press. That month, at a writers’ conference in Dallas, Texas, RC meets the poet Tess Gallagher.
1978 RC receives a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, and from March through June, he and his wife live together on a trial basis in Iowa City. They separate in July, with RC leaving for the University of Texas, El Paso, where he has been appointed visiting distinguished writer in residence for 1978—9. In August, he meets Tess Gallagher for the second time, and the two writers begin their close association. RC’s book reviews begin appearing in the Chicago Tribune, Texas Monthly, and the San Francisco Review of Books.