Cheever

November 24, 2008
Three biographies of 20th-century American short story masters.
Cheever: A Life
Blake Bailey
. Knopf
, $35 (736p) ISBN 978-1-4000-4394-1

Rebellious Yankee son of a father who fell victim to the Depression and a doo-gooder-turned-businesswoman mother, father to three competitive children he rode mercilessly but adored, chronicler par excellence of the 1950s American suburban scene while deploring all forms of conformity: John Cheever (1912–1982) was a mass of contradictions. In this overlong but always entertaining biography, composed with a novelist's eye, Bailey, biographer of Richard Yates and editor of two volumes of Cheever's work for Library of America (also due in March), was given access to unpublished portions of Cheever's famous journals and to family members and friends. Bailey's book is fine in descriptions of Cheever's reactions to other writers, such as his adored Bellow and detested Salinger. Bailey is also sensitive in describing the prickly dynamic of Cheever's domestic life, lived through a haze of alcoholism and under the shadow of extramarital heterosexual and homosexual relationships. This “Ovid in Ossining,” who published 121 stories in the New Yorker
as well as several bestselling novels, has probably yet to find a definitive position in American letters among academicians. This thoroughly researched and heartfelt biography may help redress that situation. 24 pages of photos.

March 1, 2009
Bailey, author of a biography of Richard Yates ("A Tragic Honesty") and editor of the Library of America's "John Cheever: Complete Novels" and "John Cheever: Collected Stories and Other Writings", presents a massively detailed biography of the man. Bailey had access to letters, journals, and other writings by the author as well as cooperation from Cheever's wife, children, and close friends and colleagues, which makes this biography more complete than Scott Donaldson's 1988 "John Cheever". Bailey's portrait of Cheever as author, family man, lover, and public figure contains everything readers would want to know about this important figure in American literature. The biographer is sympathetic toward his subject but presents all sides of Cheever's complex character, including his alcoholism, bisexuality, fears, struggles, and often turbulent relationships with fellow writers and family. Bailey also provides close readings of all of Cheever's novels and many of his short stories. Highly recommended for all public and academic library collections. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 11/1/08.]Morris Hounion, NYC Coll. of Technology Lib., CUNY

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 1, 2008
John Cheever is not widely read anymore. In his day duringthe 1950s and 1960s, his short stories appeared regularlyin the New Yorker, and when his first novel, the long-labored-over Wapshot Chronicle, was published in 1957, he achieved recognition as one of the foremost American fiction writers. Now his stories, upon which his reputation had been based and several of which are universally regarded as masterpieces of the form, are no longer read even in college-level literature or creative-writingcourses. Perhaps a Cheever renaissance of sorts will result from this magnificently understanding and understandable biography based on copious research and destined to be the definitive life treatment for many years to come. To hold up his life as a perfect example of that of the tortured artist would not be a mistake. Seen here, Cheever had troubled relationships with his family, which haunted him forever;wrestled with his abhorred homosexualtendencies all his adult life; anddeveloped into a desperate alcoholic. His various therapistsfound him to be a narcissisticpersonality riddled with self-doubt, andfrom the detailed picture composed here, the reader can only concur. Riveting from page 1, this is the literary biographyof the season and willbe talked about for years to come;it will also, it is hoped, guide readers once again to his distinctive fiction, especially his short stories.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)