Topic 1

How does Carver create a distance between the characters and the self he was in the stories and the self he or his narrators have become in the telling of the stories? How does the reader know the person writing the stories has learned things from the experiences he had in the stories? What, typically, has he learned?

Topic 2

What is the experience of being alcoholic like in Carver’s stories? How are alcoholics different from other people? How do other people treat them? How do they see their own alcoholism, and what, if anything, is the cure for drinking? What drives them to it in the first place?

Topic 3

How do relationships between men and women typically play out in Carver’s stories? What are the themes that come up in their conversations? What role does drinking play in their relationships, and what role do...