–Raymond Carver, Poetry, December 1985

At Emily Books, author Paula Bomer (PB) is interviewed by Emily Gould (EG). They talk Raymond Carver, Sylvia Plath, and female writers:

EG: I think there’s a lot of phony concern, when women’s writing touches their experiences in a real way.  People say “Who is she harming?” And then they pretend to be concerned about that person. But it’s just a way of judging, silencing women.

PB: Raymond Carver is worshipped by young male writers, but he was a terrible father and a terrible, terrible husband. He nearly killed his wife with a broken wine bottle! She almost bled to death!  But no one cared.  They just talked about what a fantastic brilliant writer he was. And he was a fantastic brilliant writer. But take, for example,  Sylvia Plath … people don’t separate her life from her work as much.