![]() ![]() ![]() The second story, “Chef’s House,” concerns Edna, who leaves her new partner to stay with her recovering alcoholic ex-husband Wes in a home owned by Chef, another recovering alcoholic. The couple never wanted children, and Jack feels trapped by his growing disconnection with his wife and a child he doesn’t particularly like. Although the visit is strange and the baby is ugly, it spurs Fran to encourage Jack to impregnate her that night. In the first story, “Feathers,” Jack and Fran, a blue-collar couple who dream of a better life they never expect to achieve visit the home of Jack’s coworker who recently had a baby. Other authors associated with this movement include Charles Bukowski, Cormac McCarthy, and Carson McCullers. Carver is also associated with the “dirty realism” movement, a category which depicts the sordid mundanities of everyday life and unremarkable people. While Carver considered Cathedral a stylistic break from Lish’s influence, the prose in the collection is still spare and economical, as the author employs very little description or figurative language. His early work bears the heavy influence of Esquire editor Gordon Lish, who constantly challenged Carver to use fewer words. Although Carver did not subscribe to a particular literary movement, scholars generally consider the author a minimalist. ![]()
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