Carver (Beginners, 6):
“There’d been an accident out on the interstate. A drunk kid, a teen-ager, had plowed his dad’s pickup into a camper with this old couple in it. They were up in their mid-seventies. The kid, he was eighteen or nineteen, he was D.O.A. when they brought him in. He’d taken the steering wheel through his sternum and must have died instantly.”
Lish (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, 6):
“There’d been this thing out on the interstate. Drunk kid, teenager, plowed his dad’s pickup into this camper with this old couple in it. They were up in their mid-seventies, that couple. The kid—eighteen, nineteen, something—he was DOA. Taken the steering wheel through his sternum”
Discussion (Please respond in the comments section of the Home Page)
What is the difference between Carver’s original work and Lish’s edits? Why might Lish choose to “dumb down” Carver’s original work?
