John Cheever Summary

Biography EssayAlthough some critics have dismissed Cheever as a writer of the "New Yorker school," a chronicler of suburbia, or a clever satirist, his impressive achievements in both the short story... Read more

Although some critics have dismissed Cheever as a writer of the "New Yorker school," a chronicler of suburbia, or a clever satirist, his impressive achievements in both the short story and the novel b... Read more

Few American writers have been so clear in mapping their recurrent subject matter and themes as John Cheever. From his first published story, "Expelled," he has been concerned with the Fall from a co... Read more

In the following essay Gilmore describes John Cheever's portrayal of alcoholism in his short fiction, both for comic effect and as a social critique of the upper-middle class. John Cheever may ... Read more

Critical Essay by Isa Kapp For three decades the legato Cheever prose has remained as urbane and tempting as an ad in the New Yorker, sharing with the magazine that has published nearly all his storie... Read more

Critical Essay by Charles Nicol Some words by their very nature define not our world but an ideal one, one in which we can believe but not live. It was always John Cheever's achievement to see ... Read more

Critical Essay by Robert Towers Though Cheever disclaims a documentary purpose and (rightly) resents comparison to a social nit-picker like the later John O'Hara, his stories do have a powerful... Read more

Critical Essay by Burton Kendle John Cheever's "The Enormous Radio" derives much of its power from an ironic reinterpretation of the Eden story that helps to universalize what mig... Read more

Critical Essay by John Updike ["Oh What a Paradise It Seems"] is too darting, too gaudy in its deployment of artifice and aside, too disarmingly personal in its voice, to be saddled with... Read more

Critical Essay by Robert Ottaway Few swan-songs from any important writer of fiction can have been as well-tuned as [Oh What a Paradise It Seems]. In these 100 pages, John Cheever … with perfec... Read more

Critical Essay by Samuel Coale The fictional landscape of Cheever's art includes the social pretensions and moral implications of modern suburbia, the larger patterns of human experience, such ... Read more

Critical Essay by John Leonard We have been here before, in Cheever country, and it is fine [in "Oh What a Paradise It Seems"] to return. Ordinary people, who keep seed in the bird-feedi... Read more

In the following essay, originally published in the New York Herald in 1943, Feld asserts that, although most of the stories in The Way Some People Live are mere moments or fragments of stories, Cheev... Read more

In the following essay, Kozikowski argues that “The Swimmer” is a spiritual allegory owing much to Dante's Inferno in its subject and structure. Cheever's ever-popular, man... Read more

In the following essay, Donaldson examines how Cheever exploits the contrast between the turmoil of his characters' inner lives and the seeming tranquility of their outer lives in The Housebrea... Read more

In the following essay, originally published in the New Republic in 1982, Wain applauds Cheever's The World of Apples for being witty and intelligent while depicting characters that behave dece... Read more

In the following essay, Hunt argues that Cheever's stories provide more than social commentary; they are lyrical and funny without being merely satiric. John Cheever has won many awards for his... Read more

In the following essay, Slabey compares “The Swimmer” with “Rip Van Winkle,” exploring the contrast between the dreams we live by and the reality we live. … the sto... Read more

In the following essay, Hipkiss examines the number of ways in which “The Country Husband” exposes upper middle-class angst and argues that the story is Cheever's most intense and... Read more