Selected Short Stories

by John Cheever

Frère Jacques --
I'm going to Asia --
The pleasures of solitude --
The sutton place story --
The superintendent --
The day the pig fell into the well --
The country husband --
The Wrysons --
The scarlet moving van --
A woman without a country --
Clementina --
The Angel of the Bridge --
The swimmer --

Genres: Fiction

344 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

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 cultural traditions and a profound sense of community, as opposed to the alienating nomadism of modern suburbia.

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent stories, increadible prose. I love his work. Among my favorites were: Boodbye My Brother, O City of Broken Dreams, Reunion, and The Swimmer.