Jonathan Pountney is an Independent Scholar, specialising in American fiction and political and economic cultures in the neoliberal era. He has a PhD in English and American Studies from the University of Manchester, and has held teaching positions at both the University of Manchester and Lancaster University. He is an Editorial Board Member of The Raymond Carver Review, published journalism for the Financial Times and has worked as a Publishing Manager for a number of small UK presses.

Pountney artfully brings theory to bear on a writer whose works seem suspicious of intellectualizing.

• Introduction: Authenticity, Craftsmanship and Neoliberalism in Raymond Carver’s Fiction1. ‘Bad Raymond’: Alcoholism, Education and Masculinity in Chuck Kinder’s Honeymooners 2. ‘Carveresque Realism’: Raymond Carver and Jay McInerney 3. ‘The Transpacific Partnership’: Raymond Carver and Haruki Murakami4. ‘Why Raymond Carver?’: The Equivocal Carver in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s BirdmanConclusion: Willy Vlautin and Diminished Class ConsciousnessBibliographyIndex

Jonathan Pountney is an Independent Scholar, specialising in American fiction and political and economic cultures in the neoliberal era. He has a PhD in English and American Studies from the University of Manchester, and has held teaching positions at both the University of Manchester and Lancaster University. He is an Editorial Board Member of The Raymond Carver Review, published journalism for the Financial Times and has worked as a Publishing Manager for a number of small UK presses.

Pountney artfully brings theory to bear on a writer whose works seem suspicious of intellectualizing.

• Introduction: Authenticity, Craftsmanship and Neoliberalism in Raymond Carver’s Fiction1. ‘Bad Raymond’: Alcoholism, Education and Masculinity in Chuck Kinder’s Honeymooners 2. ‘Carveresque Realism’: Raymond Carver and Jay McInerney 3. ‘The Transpacific Partnership’: Raymond Carver and Haruki Murakami4. ‘Why Raymond Carver?’: The Equivocal Carver in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s BirdmanConclusion: Willy Vlautin and Diminished Class ConsciousnessBibliographyIndex