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Genre
Explanation and Analysis:
“What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” is a short story that belongs to the genre of Realism, meaning that it tries to capture people as they really are rather than romanticizing them. Some consider Carver’s work to belong to a subgenre of realism called “dirty realism,” a term often applied to the work of specific North American writers in the 1970s and 1980s. Dirty realist literature often featured minimalist language, mundane subject matter, working- or middle-class characters, and a lack of growth or resolution for said characters.
One realist element of “What We Talk About” is the way that Carver captures dialogue between his characters. Rather than having them respond in direct and coherent ways to each other’s contributions to the conversation, he has them talk over each other, go on tangents, lose track of what they’re talking about, and repeat themselves. Take the following passage, for example, which comes in the middle of Mel’s story about the elderly couple he treated at the hospital:
“Please, Mel,” Terri said. “Don’t always be so serious, sweetie. Can’t you take a joke?” He held his glass and gazed steadily at his wife.
“What happened?” Laura said.
Mel fastened his eyes on Laura. He said, “Laura, if I didn’t have Terri and if I didn’t love her so much, and if Nick wasn’t my best friend, I’d fall in love with you. I’d carry you off, honey,” he said.
“Tell your story,” Terri said. “Then we’ll go to that new place, okay?”
Here, Terri interrupts Mel’s story, Laura interrupts Terri’s interruption (her question is directed at Mel, since she’s eager to learn about the fate of the elderly couple), Mel ignores what both women have said to him and goes on a tangent about how he’d “carry off” Laura if he could, and Terri ignores this offensive statement her husband makes, encouraging him, as Laura did, to return to his original story. It is clear from this passage that Carver is interested in capturing the dynamics of a drunken gathering of friends realistically rather than romantically.
Related Themes:
