This is a small piece selected from my AS English Literature coursework. It is a creative response to Raymond Carver’s range of short stories, and by producing this creative response I hoped to capture some of his key concepts, the likes of which being the reason as to his noteworthy reputation. Raymond Carver is known for his simplistic nature of writing, yet with a certain level of ambiguity. This is what I hoped to emulate in my own work, with the piece being stripped down to the bare essentials, leaving the reader to make vital inferences regarding the subtext. The selected piece is shown below.
The gentle orange glow from the streetlamp entered the bathroom window and kissed the mirror cabinet, illuminating it like a shrine, offering a soft reflection back at me. I stare at the still image. It’s not so bad. I opened the cabinet and stared at the contents. Just like every other time, my eyes fell on something in particular. The glow of the streetlamp fell kindly upon it, illuminating the object. My hands enclosed around it for a few seconds, then I relinquished my grip. I tore myself away from the bathroom cabinet and went back into the hallway.
nickmiddleton1997 