John Cheever’s Followers (1,064)

John Cheever

Born

in Quincy, Massachusetts, The United States

May 27, 1912

Died

June 18, 1982

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Short Stories, Gay & Lesbian

Influences

Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Chekov, Proust ...more

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John Cheever was an American novelist and short story writer, sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs" or "the Ovid of Ossining." His fiction is mostly set in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the suburbs of Westchester, New York, and old New England villages based on various South Shore towns around Quincy, Massachusetts, where he was born.

His main themes include the duality of human nature: sometimes dramatized as the disparity between a character's decorous social persona and inner corruption, and sometimes as a conflict between two characters (often brothers) who embody the salient aspects of both--light and dark, flesh and spirit. Many of his works also express a nostalgia for a vanishing way of life, characterized by abiding cult ...more

Combine Editions
John Cheever’s books

Average rating: 3.95 · 57,932 ratings · 5,107 reviews · 297 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Stories of John Cheever 4.26 avg rating — 15,717 ratings — published 1978 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Falconer 3.64 avg rating — 8,792 ratings — published 1977 — 101 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Wapshot Chronicle 3.75 avg rating — 7,545 ratings — published 1957 — 137 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Swimmer 4.04 avg rating — 5,549 ratings — published 1964	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bullet Park 3.75 avg rating — 3,125 ratings — published 1967 — 89 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Oh What a Paradise It Seems 3.47 avg rating — 1,790 ratings — published 1982 — 64 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Wapshot Scandal 3.73 avg rating — 976 ratings — published 1964 — 79 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Journals of John Cheever 4.21 avg rating — 838 ratings — published 1990 — 45 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Enormous Radio really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 866 ratings — published 1947 — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Collected Stories and Other Writings by John Cheever, Blake Bailey (Editor) 4.33 avg rating — 465 ratings — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by John Cheever (?)

“I've been homesick for countries I've never been, and longed to be where I couldn't be.”
― John Cheever

3583 likes

“I can’t write without a reader. It’s precisely like a kiss—you can’t do it alone.”
― John Cheever

tags: readers-and-writers

1861 likes

“Fiction is art and art is the triumph over chaos… to celebrate a world that lies spread out around us like a bewildering and stupendous dream.”
― John Cheever

tags: books, fiction, inspirational, on-fiction, writing

1268 likes

See all John Cheever's quotes »

Polls

April 2016 Monthly Short Story Poll

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, 98 pages, 1915

38 votes, 23.9%

A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, 122 pages, 1851

32 votes, 20.1%

The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare, 112 pages, 1594

27 votes, 17.0%

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, 96 pages, 1922

21 votes, 13.2%

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, 108 pages, 1872

10 votes, 6.3%

King Leopold's Soliloquy by Mark Twain, 95 pages, 1905

8 votes, 5.0%

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder, 138 pages, 1927

7 votes, 4.4%

Everyday Use by Alice Walker, Title Story 16 pages, 1973

6 votes, 3.8%

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce, 36 pages, 1890

6 votes, 3.8%

Reunion A single short story as found in The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever, 3 pages, 1978

2 votes, 1.3%

The Upper Berth by Francis Marion Crawford, 48 pages, 1846

2 votes, 1.3%

159 total votes

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John Cheever’s Followers (1,064)

John Cheever

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Combine Editions
John Cheever’s books