The Letters of John Cheever
Published on 5. November 2009
Book
Paperback/Softback
416 pages
978-0-09-952964-4 (ISBN)
Description
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JAY MCINERNEY
John Cheever's letters offer a tantalising glimpse into the life of a writer. They include correspondence with his contemporaries, such as Philip Roth, John Updike and Saul Bellow, his days as a young, aspiring writer and his battles with bisexuality and alcoholism. In this collection, edited by his son Benjamin Cheever, we see how his private correspondence was as extraordinary as his published works.
John Cheever's letters offer a tantalising glimpse into the life of a writer. They include correspondence with his contemporaries, such as Philip Roth, John Updike and Saul Bellow, his days as a young, aspiring writer and his battles with bisexuality and alcoholism. In this collection, edited by his son Benjamin Cheever, we see how his private correspondence was as extraordinary as his published works.
Reviews / Votes
He lies, in American writing, somewhere between Scott Fitzgerald and John Updike -- Malcolm Bradbury The master of the short story was also the master of the short letter * Sunday Times * I enjoyed The Letters of John Cheever enormously... Cheever shone in his three-paragraph masterpieces about temperamental plumbing, pets, and the loneliness of the short story-writer -- Zoe Heller Cheever's work - a succession of brilliant short stories for the New Yorker and four novels - depends on an edgy eye for detail and a compulsive narrative personality * Independent * John's letters and Benjamin's commentary makes a special kind of dialogue that touches and haunts, both in what is said and what is kept silent * Los Angeles Times * Cheever's eldest son Benjamin's insights are as illuminating as the letters * The Times * A welcome re-issue.. a great read, full of good-natured but by no means sappy humour and alive with vigorous details * Sunday Herald * A superb volume -- Lesley McDowell * The Herald *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
496 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-09-952964-4 (9780099529644)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
John Cheever
The Letters of John Cheever
E-Book
04/2011
1st Edition
Vintage Digital
€12.99
Available for download
Person
John Cheever was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1912, and he went to school at Thayer Academy in South Braintree. 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 he 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.