Meet the Author
John Cheever
American · 1912–1982 · Short story writer
Portrait: Wernerr Wolff, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The 'Chekhov of the suburbs,' who found heartbreak and strangeness behind the hedges of commuter towns.
3 StoryBites Editions2 Short stories
Why read John Cheever?
Cheever writes about affluent suburbanites whose polished lives hide loneliness, alcoholism, and quiet despair. His stories can turn suddenly surreal, like a man swimming home across his neighbors' pools. He captures the ache of the American dream curdling in the backyard.
A life in six dates
- 1912Born in Quincy, Massachusetts
- 1953Publishes the collection The Enormous Radio and Other Stories
- 1964Publishes The Swimmer
- 1978The Stories of John Cheever wins the Pulitzer Prize
- 1982Dies in Ossining, New York
Themes across the collection
The StoryBites Editions
Context that actually matters
The postwar suburbHe exposed the disquiet beneath its lawns and cocktail parties.
The New Yorker storyHis decades there helped define the polished mid-century American form.
Private struggleHis hidden battles with drink and desire haunt his fiction's surfaces.