This collection of Raymond Carver's interviews reveals him to have been perhaps the premier short-story writer of his generation, a lyric-narrative poet of singular resonance, and a staunch proponent of realistic fiction in the wake of postmodern formalism. The twenty-five conversations gathered here, several available in English for the first time, include craft interviews, biographical portraits, self-analyses, and wide-ranging reflections on the current literary scene.

Carver discusses his changing views of his widely influential fiction collections What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (1981), Cathedral (1983), and Where I'm Calling From (1988). Carver explains how at the height of his fame as a fiction writer he turned to poetry, producing three prize-winning books in as many years. Finally, in the closing months of his life, he talks about the coming of his last triumphant stories, the ones that secured his reputation.