What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Love? True Love, Passionate Love, and Pining in the Short Fiction of Raymond Carver and Tobias Wolff

Author: Chan, Andrew M.

Year: 2021

Degree: Other

Advisors: Jurca, Catherine; Sobelle, Stefanie

Committee Member: None, None

Option: English; Geophysics

DOI: 10.7907/cp49-9s18

Abstract

Love exists in many forms: love between family members, love between friends and significant others, and generally, love of a person for every entity or object in-between. From love between a man and fish, to the love of alcohol, familial or fraternal relationships, and, finally, romantic love, Raymond Carver and Tobias Wolff depict love in its many forms in their short fiction. This thesis specifically explores the portrayal of romantic love in Carver’s story “Beginners” from the collection Beginners and Wolff’s story “Maiden Voyage” from In the Garden of the North American Martyrs. The characters in these stories form a spectrum of love. From the ideal love of Henry and Anna Gates or the modern, simple love, of Nick and Laura in “Beginners,” to the passionless love of Howard and Nora in “Maiden Voyage,” by analyzing the relationships in these stories this thesis concludes that love does exists differently for every marriage. While all relationships can have love in a broad sense, some of these loves are more powerful and lasting than others.

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