John Cheever was an eminent twentieth century American literature writer, noted for his prolific novels and short stories. He is often referred to as “the Chekhov of the suburbs” for his focus on suburbs. Majority of his work foregrounds the suburbs of Manhattan, Massachusetts, New England and Italy.
Born on May 27, 1912, in Quincy, Massachusetts, John William Cheever was raised by Frederick Lincoln Cheever, a shoe salesman and Mary Liley Cheever, a gift shop owner. With the decline of shoe industry, his father lost his job which became a source of humiliation for his family as they had to face poverty. Cheever began his schooling at Thayer Academy in 1926 but failed to fit in, thus he was transferred to Quincy High two years later. Subsequently, he was invited back at the Thayer Academy after winning a short story contest funded by the Boston Herald. However, he still failed to make good progress and got expelled. He then detailed this experience in The New Republic with the piece titled “Expelled“.
During 1930’s his parents got separated and he moved to Boston with his brother. He traveled a lot between the cities and finally took an editor’s job at the Federal Writers’ Project in Washington D. C. He got married in 1941 and a year after that he was conscripted into U.S Army. In 1943, he published a collection of short stories, The Way Some People Live, which received a lukewarm response from the critics. He resumed writing his novel, The Holly Tree, which he discontinued while serving during in the army. The New Yorker published his Kafkaesque story, “The Enormous Radio“, in 1947 to positive reviews.
Cheever continued to write and with every short story his work started to become more complex. His reputation as a writer skyrocketed with the publication of The Wapshot Scandal in 1964. He became the face of Time’s magazine cover. One of his key short stories, “The Swimmer“, appeared in 1964 and was later adapted for the big screen. Although Cheever’s writing career soared, his domestic life went downhill. His condition deteriorated due to his excessive drinking problem and his tormented bisexual life. He conveniently blamed his wife for his suffering and sought therapy. According to the therapist, Cheever himself was the source of his anguished state and out of loneliness and egocentric nature he projected his shortcoming onto his wife.
Even though Cheever was severely tormented by his situation, he did not quit writing. In 1969, he wrote a novel, titled Bullet Park. To his dismay, the book received a discouraging review in The New York Times Book Review written by Benjamin DeMott. The depressing review exacerbated his condition and he was once again admitted in the psychiatric treatment. In fact, he even began an affair with an actress. Subsequently, he published his masterpiece Falconer in 1977 and it instantly topped the New York Times Best Seller list and rendered Cheever to be featured on Newsweek magazine’s cover. The major themes of his literary works were inspired by his own experiences. Some of these themes were the duality of human nature, social facades and conflict between close blood relations. In 1979, he won Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his collection of short stories, The Stories of John Cheever. John Cheever died of cancer on June 18, 1982 and the same year he published his last novel What a Paradise It Seems to favorable response.