John Cheever
| John Cheever | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | John William Cheever May 27, 1912 Quincy, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | June 18, 1982 (aged 70) Ossining, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer, novelist |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 20th century |
| Genre | Short story, fiction |
| Literary movement | Symbolism |
| Notable works | |
| Notable awards |
Pulizer Prize (1979) National Book Critics Circle Award (1981) |
| Years active | 1935–1982 |
| Spouse | Mary Winternitz (m. 1941; d. 1982) |
| Children |
Susan Benjamin Alfred |
John William Cheever (May 27, 1912 – June 18, 1982) was an American novelist and short story writer. He is sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs". His fiction is mostly set in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the Westchester suburbs, old New England villages based on various South Shore towns around Quincy, Massachusetts, where he was born, and Italy, especially Rome. He is "now recognized as one of the most important short fiction writers of the 20th century." While Cheever is perhaps best remembered for his short stories (including "The Enormous Radio", "Goodbye, My Brother", "The Five-Forty-Eight", "The Country Husband", and "The Swimmer"), he also wrote four novels, comprising The Wapshot Chronicle (National Book Award, 1958),The Wapshot Scandal (William Dean Howells Medal, 1965), Bullet Park (1969), Falconer (1977) and a novella Oh What a Paradise It Seems (1982).
His main themes include the duality of human nature: sometimes dramatized as the disparity between a character's decorous social persona and inner corruption, and sometimes as a conflict between two characters (often brothers) who embody the salient aspects of both – light and dark, flesh and spirit. Many of his works also express a nostalgia for a vanishing way of life (as evoked by the mythical St. Botolphs in the Wapshot novels), characterized by abiding cultural traditions and a profound sense of community, as opposed to the alienating nomadism of modern suburbia.
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