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Fever
- GenresShort Stories
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About the author
Raymond Carver
362 books5,128 followersCarver was born into a poverty-stricken family at the tail-end of the Depression. He married at 19, started a series of menial jobs and his own career of 'full-time drinking as a serious pursuit', a career that would eventually kill him. Constantly struggling to support his wife and family, Carver enrolled in a writing programme under author John Gardner in 1958. He saw this opportunity as a turning point.
Rejecting the more experimental fiction of the 60s and 70s, he pioneered a precisionist realism reinventing the American short story during the eighties, heading the line of so-called 'dirty realists' or 'K-mart realists'. Set in trailer parks and shopping malls, they are stories of banal lives that turn on a seemingly insignificant detail. Carver writes with meticulous economy, suddenly bringing a life into focus in a similar way to the paintings of Edward Hopper. As well as being a master of the short story, he was an accomplished poet publishing several highly acclaimed volumes.
After the 'line of demarcation' in Carver's life - 2 June 1977, the day he stopped drinking - his stories become increasingly more redemptive and expansive. Alcohol had eventually shattered his health, his work and his family - his first marriage effectively ending in 1978. He finally married his long-term parter Tess Gallagher (they met ten years earlier at a writers' conference in Dallas) in Reno, Nevada, less than two months before he eventually lost his fight with cancer.
Rejecting the more experimental fiction of the 60s and 70s, he pioneered a precisionist realism reinventing the American short story during the eighties, heading the line of so-called 'dirty realists' or 'K-mart realists'. Set in trailer parks and shopping malls, they are stories of banal lives that turn on a seemingly insignificant detail. Carver writes with meticulous economy, suddenly bringing a life into focus in a similar way to the paintings of Edward Hopper. As well as being a master of the short story, he was an accomplished poet publishing several highly acclaimed volumes.
After the 'line of demarcation' in Carver's life - 2 June 1977, the day he stopped drinking - his stories become increasingly more redemptive and expansive. Alcohol had eventually shattered his health, his work and his family - his first marriage effectively ending in 1978. He finally married his long-term parter Tess Gallagher (they met ten years earlier at a writers' conference in Dallas) in Reno, Nevada, less than two months before he eventually lost his fight with cancer.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 17, 2019
Excellent short story out of the CATHEDRAL compilation, Raymond Carver's third book of collected short stories. It's simple and complex at the same time, it is flowing naturally and easily, but deep waters lurk in the human psyche. Wonderful.
February 16, 2019
Todo un universo que se despliega en apenas 20 páginas, la búsqueda desesperada de una niñera tras el abandono de su mujer y esa sensación aterradora de que su vida no se va a recomponer nunca, harán que Carlyle no confie en nadie. Esa sensación de abandono y de desconfianza en el mundo irá cambiando cuando llega la niñera en la figura de la sra. Webster. Raymond Carver narra aqui una etapa en la vida de Carlyle, unos meses de transición con sus miedos, sus inseguridades y la desconfianza que siente hacia el mundo, y es tan fácil sentirse identificado/a con Carlyle: es la vida misma que cuando pensábamos que lo teniamos todo controlado en compartimentos, hace zass y te desequilibra. Todo esto contado con ese minimalismo carveriano que envuelve y engancha. Genial.
August 4, 2025
I listened to this as one of the Cathedral's collection. This is one of Carver's that hits the sweet spot. It's interesting in that I'm listening to this right after a long night of flu like body ache. Sickness does seem to reveal things to us that ordinarily we don't see.
September 15, 2025
Fever by Raymond Carver
Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
Carlyle is the hero of this story.
He has a very difficult time and I empathize with him and also admire the strength that he has proved in difficult circumstances.
In his position, I would lose it.
His wife has left him and their two kids, too young to be left home without somebody watching over them.
So Carlyle hires a fat girl- we would call her horizontally challenged today- and he tries to get on with his job…and life.
But the girl is a catastrophe.
When the father comes home, he finds his children playing with a strange, large dog and there is nobody near them
Most of the accidents involving children and dogs take place in these exact circumstances, where small children are unsupervised
- They play rough with the animal, really hurting one ear or another anatomical part and the dog reacts, biting
The irresponsible “baby sitter „is having a party and is making out with a young man, without thinking of consequences.
Carlyle is mad with fury.
- Get out!!
- All of you!!
But the group is in no hurry and more interested in recuperating the Rod Stewart disc that they were listening to.
Loudly.
- You have to pay me!
- If you do not disappear now, I will call the police!
The nerve that girl and so many others have…I am tempted to say these days, but then I forgot my own indiscretions and philandering.
Carlyle tries to find another woman to watch over his offspring, but the one who comes is not much better
She has a tooth missing and worse, she does not show any interest in the children and comes across as careless and indifferent.
So the estranged wife comes to the rescue.
Which is odd, given that she eloped with a man who used to be a friend of Carlyle- or so he had seemed, but no real friend would do that...would he?
She calls to see how are the children and her husband, talking some nonsense about her and the karma…
Not that Buddhist perspectives are wrong- I am very attracted to a number of them, excluding reincarnation and some others.
But she has found a woman, Mrs. Webster that could help with the house and the children and she has good references.
Carlyle talks to her and she comes the next morning, proving to be the exact saving angel that he needed.
She is very good to the children and even helps Carlyle with his Fever.
But everyone has issues and problems and after some time, there is an opportunity for Mrs. Webster and her husband.
They want to move away.
A very good narrative.
Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
Carlyle is the hero of this story.
He has a very difficult time and I empathize with him and also admire the strength that he has proved in difficult circumstances.
In his position, I would lose it.
His wife has left him and their two kids, too young to be left home without somebody watching over them.
So Carlyle hires a fat girl- we would call her horizontally challenged today- and he tries to get on with his job…and life.
But the girl is a catastrophe.
When the father comes home, he finds his children playing with a strange, large dog and there is nobody near them
Most of the accidents involving children and dogs take place in these exact circumstances, where small children are unsupervised
- They play rough with the animal, really hurting one ear or another anatomical part and the dog reacts, biting
The irresponsible “baby sitter „is having a party and is making out with a young man, without thinking of consequences.
Carlyle is mad with fury.
- Get out!!
- All of you!!
But the group is in no hurry and more interested in recuperating the Rod Stewart disc that they were listening to.
Loudly.
- You have to pay me!
- If you do not disappear now, I will call the police!
The nerve that girl and so many others have…I am tempted to say these days, but then I forgot my own indiscretions and philandering.
Carlyle tries to find another woman to watch over his offspring, but the one who comes is not much better
She has a tooth missing and worse, she does not show any interest in the children and comes across as careless and indifferent.
So the estranged wife comes to the rescue.
Which is odd, given that she eloped with a man who used to be a friend of Carlyle- or so he had seemed, but no real friend would do that...would he?
She calls to see how are the children and her husband, talking some nonsense about her and the karma…
Not that Buddhist perspectives are wrong- I am very attracted to a number of them, excluding reincarnation and some others.
But she has found a woman, Mrs. Webster that could help with the house and the children and she has good references.
Carlyle talks to her and she comes the next morning, proving to be the exact saving angel that he needed.
She is very good to the children and even helps Carlyle with his Fever.
But everyone has issues and problems and after some time, there is an opportunity for Mrs. Webster and her husband.
They want to move away.
A very good narrative.
February 25, 2024
We all could use a Mrs. Webster in our lives. Excellent story
September 9, 2025
Almost perfect
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews