Product Description

This collection of letters by John Cheever, a novelist and short story writer, is edited by his son. He was winner of the National Book award and the Pulitzer Prize and was a prolific letter writer who addressed every aspect and period of his life in his correspondence. He wrote about his days as an aspiring writer to the years following the success of "The Stories of John Cheever", as well as his feelings about others' work, his bisexuality and successful battle with alcoholism. Among his correspondents were Saul Bellow, Malcolm Cowley, William Maxwell, John Updike, Robert Penn Warren and Philip Wroth and some of the most important people in his own life. Benjamin Cheever's last novel was "Falconer".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2960253 in Books
• Published on: 1989-09-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 382 pages

From Publishers Weekly
John Cheever's letters aren't great literaturethey weren't meant to bebut his unmistakable voice comes through on every page. Bristling with his sardonic wit and "rock-bottom irritability," they reveal a man of dark contradictions: an ardent heterosexual in public, Cheever despised his own secret bisexuality; he scorned the upper-middle class but desperately needed its approval. Letters track a romantic affair with actress Hope Lange, a competitive friendship with John Updike and dialogues with Saul Bellow, Josephine Herbst, Malcolm Cowley, Frederick Exley and Philip Roth. In the late 1960s, Cheever's merry, heavy-drinking attitude swiftly turned into family tragedy. Benjamin Cheever, the novelist's son, interweaves affectionate commentaries with the letters, telling what it was like to be reared by a famous writer who was an alcoholic. In the most affecting letters, every word is in place as Cheever paints a real-life character, comments on contemporary fiction or lays bare his frustrations. We follow the writer from a $3-a-week Greenwich Village room to the wilds of Westchester, N.Y.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This breezy, fast-paced correspondence will delight Cheever's fans. Dashed off in a tipsy or rhapsodic haze, without dates or any other thoughts for posterity, these letters focus not on Cheever's work but on "the common minutiae of lifethe raw materials of most good letters." Though occasionally savage toward other writers, the Cheever revealed here is generally light-hearted, warm, and confident. But middle age finds him "stuck in a morass of alcohol and melancholy," and the letters take on a grim undertone; the chief pleasures of his last decade seem to be his open indulgence of his homosexuality and the achievements of his children. On the whole, a splendid, lively book for anyone who likes to read others' mail. Michael Edmonds, State Historical Soc. of Wisconsin, Madison
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Cheever's son, Benjamin, edits his father's correspondence as an act of reconciliation - he here comes to terms with the disturbing facts of the fiction writer's secret life as a bisexual adulterer, a hidden self much at odds with the values celebrated in Cheerer's best work. The truth of the matter is even more surprising: Cheever's letters, here padded with excerpts from his fiction and journals, are mostly dull, seldom more than a page long, and distinctly unliterary. Especially during his early years as a writer, Cheever displays little more than his appreciation of his mentor Malcolm Cowley; his fondness for fellow Yaddo denizen, Josephine Herbst; and his difficulties with editors and publishers. Once Cheever begins his family, and, in particular when they move to West-chester, his letters take on a certain charm - that of a doting father, amused by the details of domestic life. Even in his most mundane letters to friends, Cheever displays his strongest virtues - a self-deprecating wit, and a genuine sense of modesty. But it's not until the 60's, an era of sexual candor, that Cheerer's other self erges. Letters that outline his bisexual past, and love letters to young male proteges will no doubt draw much attention since they support the comment (quoted here) of his mistress, Hope Lange: "he was one of the horniest men I've ever known." Beyond titillation, readers will find in the later letters some amusing literary gossip (about Brendan Behan, Saul Bellow, and Harold Brodkey, among others) and the most sustained critical insight, drawn out by his badgering correspondent, Frederick Exley. There are other pleasures here, but they're often overwhelmed by Benjamin Cheerer's chatty commentary, repetitive annotations, and at times inept prose. Taken with sister Susan's salacious memoir, this bungled volume by her brother makes you wonder - with kids like these, who needs enemies? (Kirkus Reviews)