Where I'm Calling From

Carver was born in 1938 in Clatskanie, Oregon, and grew up in Yakima, Washington. He became seriously interested in writing while studying at Chico State College in 1958, and he went on to receive his Bachelor of Arts from Humboldt State College in 1963. Carver married Maryann Burk shortly after high school, and the couple had two children in quick succession. To support his family, he worked several odd jobs, unable to fulfill his desire to write. He told the Paris Review in 1983, “[I]t was tough to stay alive and pay bills and put food on the table and at the same time to think of myself as a writer and to learn to write” (Simpson, Mona, and Lewis Buzbee. “Raymond Carver, The Art of Fiction No. 76.” The Paris Review, no. 88, 1983, pp. 192-221). Instead of writing full time, Carver wrote when he could, focusing on short-form works like short stories and poems.

Under the pressure of constant work and feeling that his life wasn’t turning out how he wanted it to, Carver began drinking heavily around the year 1967. Eventually, his alcohol addiction led to difficulties in his personal life and marriage, much like

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