John Cheever
Biography
John Cheever
A writer for most of his life and best known for his short stories, John Cheever was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1912. He published his first short story at the age of 17 and, in 1979, was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for his collection of short stories, The Stories of John Cheever. He was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1951, a Howells Medal Award (awarded by the National Academy of Arts and Letters for The Wapshot Scandal) in 1964, and winner of the 1978 American Book Award forThe Stories of John Cheever. His later novels include Bullet Park (1969),Falconer (1977), and Oh What a Paradise It Seems (1982). The Journals of John Cheever was published posthumously in 1991. He died in 1982, at the age of 70.
John Cheever is considered a master storyteller and one of America's most original writers. He is also deemed a virtuoso of characterization; the characters that people his works of fiction, short stories, and novels alike are a unique blend of individual glory and eccentricity. He was insatiably fascinated with the dynamics of human relationships and the unique responses of ordinary individuals to the shifting, if otherwise commonplace, entanglements of life. The Wapshot Chronicle and its sequel, published two years later, The Wapshot Scandal, illustrate the breadth and scope of Cheever's vision, his interests, and his narrative style.
John Cheever
