Author Julie Gilbert Discusses the Writing of Her New Book ‘Giant Love’
Julie Gilbert Today, we delve into the enduring relevance of the themes explored by Pulitzer Prize -winning author Edna Ferber
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By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘The Father’ is one of Raymond Carver’s shortest stories. It is more of a sketch or even, perhaps, a piece of ‘flash fiction’ than a ‘short story’ in the conventional sense; but then one of the things that great writers in the short-story form have always done is make us question the very conventions of the form. This story concerns a newborn baby. The female relatives of the baby admire him and try to work out who he reminds them of; in the course of the story, they realise that the father of the baby appears to lack any defining identity. Summary The newborn baby lies in a basket beside a bed, with his mother, grandmother, and three sisters all in the room with him. The father of the baby, meanwhile, is in the kitchen. The sisters discuss which of them the baby loves, and Phyllis, one of the three sisters, states that the baby loves their father because both he and the baby are ‘boys’. The grandmother points out how ‘fat’ the baby’s arm is, and suggests the baby’s fingers are like those of the mother. The mother, meanwhile, points out how healthy the baby is. Alice, another of the three sisters, asks who the baby looks like, and the third sister, Carol, simply observes how ‘pretty’ the baby’s eyes are. The grandmother notes a resemblance between the baby’s lips and those of the baby’s grandfather – the grandmother’s (presumably dead) husband. The mother isn’t sure there’s a resemblance, however. Alice thinks the baby’s nose reminds her of someone’s, but she fails to identify whose. Phyllis interjects that the baby doesn’t resemble any of them, in fact. But Carol then has a little brainwave, and decides the baby resembles their father. But that leads Phyllis to wonder: who does ‘Daddy’ resemble? Alice repeats her question, and Phyllis begins to cry when she realises their father doesn’t look like anyone either. She cannot handle this revelation. Surely, she insists, their father has to look like somebody else? The mother and her three daughters […]
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Julie Gilbert Today, we delve into the enduring relevance of the themes explored by Pulitzer Prize -winning author Edna Ferber
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