Where do they find so many writers who just wish to emulate Raymond Carver? Is that part of the auditioning process to get published there? “Ok, now give us your best ennui in 250 words or less, be sure to include at least one sentence that points to the impossibility of apprehending someone’s subjectivity through love and/ or copulation and do so using the least number of adjectives possible. If you need to qualify something, only use words that highlight your minimalist management of emotions. However, under no circumstance should you confuse Carver’s ennui with that of Plath. As a matter of fact, you should aspire to depict emotions by opposition to Plath’s "hysterics”. We want manly man Americana ennui, not womanly prose“.
I should know, I once aspired to write exactly like that. I was also eighteen.
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