John Cheever was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1912. He is the author of seven collections of stories and five novels. His first novel, The Wapshot Chronicle, won the 1958 National Book Award. In 1965 he received the Howells Medal for Fiction from the National Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 1978 The Stories of John Cheever won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Shortly before his death in 1982, he was awarded the National Medal for Literature from the Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
“A treasure-trove of riches.... His particular gifts ... place the
journals among the very best of the form.” —Mary Gordon, The
New York Times Book Review
“John Cheever is an enchanted realist, and his voice ... is as rich
and distinctive as any of the leading voices of postwar American
literature.” —Philip Roth
“A provocative introduction to the mind and craft of an important
American author.” —The Boston Globe
“A stunning itinerary of a lost man intermittently saved by a
change of wind or a moment of love... You won't find a more
intimate self-portrait of a writer.” —Entertainment Weekly
As explained in the editor's note, the published volume contains selected portions of Cheever's extensive personal journals. Published with the cooperation and assistance of the author's family, it represents one-twentieth of the actual journals, which span a 35-year period. The journals served Cheever both as writer's notebook and memoir, clarifying much of his method of working. The inner life of a writer is revealed in these highly introspective memoirs. Cheever writes of his alcoholism and his bisexuality; his ``war with the world''; his loneliness, alienation, depression, and carnal fantasies; his love for his family; his religion (Catholicism); his perception of the role of the writer in society; and his enjoyment of the rural life at his home in the Hudson valley, all with remarkable powers of description. A candid, beautiful, often startling portrait of a 20th-century American writer. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/91.-- Lesley Jorbin, Cleveland State Univ. Lib.
"A treasure-trove of riches.... His particular gifts ... place the
journals among the very best of the form." -Mary Gordon, The New
York Times Book Review
"John Cheever is an enchanted realist, and his voice ... is
as rich and distinctive as any of the leading voices of postwar
American literature." -Philip Roth
"A provocative introduction to the mind and craft of an important
American author." -The Boston Globe
"A stunning itinerary of a lost man intermittently saved
by a change of wind or a moment of love... You won't find a more
intimate self-portrait of a writer." -Entertainment Weekly
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