Preview of Falconer Summary:

Strikingly different from his previous work, Falconer both surprised and startled readers when it first appeared in 1977. Set in Falconer Prison, the novel represented a radical departure from the standardized Cheever territory of urban and suburban terrain.

According to Cheever, the novel's chosen subjects are defined as "incarceration, homosexuality, and addiction."

Consequently, drawing heavily on his teaching experience at Sing Sing prison in the early 1970s, Cheever creates in Falconer a realistic portrayal of prison existence, using the setting as a literary metaphor for the concept of confinement as an abstract state of mind.

The novel revolves around the central character of Ezekiel Farragut, a forty-eight-year-old college professor convicted of murdering his brother.

Although Cheever had on several previous occasions explored the complex and often strained relationships between brothers, this was the first incident of fratricide in his fiction. Several themes interact within the...