4 ms·
Love that this appeared on HN! For context, this I think is Cheever’s (“the Checkhov of the suburbs”) most famous story. Another widely anthologized one is “The
by Jun8 3y ago
Love that this appeared on HN! For context, this I think is Cheever’s (“the Checkhov of the suburbs”) most famous story. Another widely anthologized one is “The Enormous Radio” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Enormous_Radio https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Enormous_Radio. Cheever’s collected stories won the Pulitzer Prize.
From https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/31/the-swimmer-by-john-cheever-into-a-suburban-darkness https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/31/the-swimmer-by...:
“But as fun as it is to play spot-the-allusion – and as tempting as it is to view The Swimmer as a Portrait of the Artist as a Middle-Aged Man – Cheever’s greatest short story transcends its influences and any autobiographical frisson to emerge as a quietly devastating journey into one man’s heart of darkness. And as a piece of prose it is as near-miraculous as the journey it describes, standing as a perfect example of Cheever’s description of fiction as ‘the telling of lies … a sort of sleight-of-hand that displays our deepest feelings about life.’ “
If you like this style you may also want to read William Trevor’s stories, for the British equivalent.
- subpixel 3y agoHere's John Cheever reading the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I8_Jyp26Cg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I8_Jyp26Cg
- jpm_sd 3y agoHadn't read anything by Cheever before. This was incredible. Starts off with a real Ferris Bueller lightheartedness and takes a very moving turn.
- everybodyknows 3y agoIf Cheever is the Checkhov of the suburbs, in whose historical company might John Updike fall?
- Gimpei 3y agoThe Country Husband is another classic https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1954/11/20/the-country-husband https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1954/11/20/the-country-hu.... I believe it was the Cheever found in the Norton Compendium of Short Fiction last time I checked.
- atombender 3y agoHappy to see Trevor mentioned here. He was one of the great short story writers, and deserves more attention. Also worth mentioning that while most known for his short stories, Trevor's novels (including The Story of Lucy Gault and The Children of Dynmouth) are also fantastic. Also worth mentioning in the same breath is Alice Munro — the "Canadian William Trevor", perhaps?