Raymond Clevie Carver, Jr., born on May 25, 1938, and passed away on August 2, 1988, was an esteemed American short story writer and poet. His literary journey commenced with the publication of his first collection of stories, Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?, in 1976. This was the beginning of a remarkable career that would see Carver becoming a pivotal figure in American literature. His subsequent collection, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (1981), garnered immediate acclaim, cementing his status in the literary world. It was followed by Cathedral (1983), which Carver considered his magnum opus, and is widely regarded as his masterpiece. Before his untimely death in 1988, the definitive collection of his stories titled Where I'm Calling From was published, showcasing his mastery over the short story form and significantly contributing to the revival of this genre.

Carver's upbringing in a poverty-stricken family at the tail-end of the Depression shaped his life and work. He married at 19 and embarked on a series of menial jobs, alongside a career of 'full-time drinking as a serious pursuit,' a struggle that would eventually claim his life. Despite the challenges, Carver's enrollment in a writing programme under author John Gardner in 1958 marked a turning point. He rejected the more experimental fiction of the 60s and 70s to pioneer a precisionist realism that reinvented the American short story in the eighties. His stories, often set in trailer parks and shopping malls, depicted the lives of those living in the margins. Carver was a leading figure of the 'dirty realists' or 'K-mart realists,' a movement characterized by its minimalist narratives, told in a dry and simple style, devoid of metaphorical concessions, and mostly set in the northwestern region of the United States.