SOURCE: Mathews, James W. “Peter Rugg and Cheever's Swimmer: Archetypal Missing Men.” Studies in Short Fiction 29, no. 1 (winter 1992): 95-101.

In the following essay, Mathews examines the narrative and thematic similarities of “The Swimmer” to William Austin's “Peter Rugg, The Missing Man,” citing both as “mythic American” stories.

John Cheever's fiction has generally been acclaimed as much for its timeless mythic dimensions as for its topical satire of American suburbia. Among the short stories, “The Swimmer” (1964) has received praise for its fresh treatment of the homeward journey, a traditional motif that Cheever Americanized and modernized. In addition to the obvious classical antecedents, including The Odyssey, critics have noted similarities between “The Swimmer” and earlier American expressions of the dichotomy between dream and reality, such as “Rip Van Winkle” and The Great Gatsby (Auser 18; Slabey 180-83, 187-88; Kruse 226-29). Another mythic American tale that “The Swimmer” resembles in narrative structure...