John Cheever (58 page)

JC
AT
T
HAYERLANDS:
Grace L. Osgood to SD, 23 August 1985; JC quoted in Coates, dissertation, p. 23; JC on the Charlie Rose show, Dallas–Fort Worth television, late 1979; T
HE
[T
HAYERLANDS
] E
VERGREEN
, April 1925, pp. 20, 22, and April 1926, p. 24; Lillian H. Wentworth, “… And Recalled: John Cheever at Prep School,” P
ARENTS
L
EAGUE
B
ULLETIN
1984, New York, 1984, pp. 42–43, quotes “The Brook” and “The Stage Ride” in full; T
HE
[T
HAYERLANDS
] E
VERGREEN
, commencement issue 1926, p. 13; JC, talk at the Peekskill (N.Y.) library, 21 April 1974.

ADOLESCENCE

F
ATHER
'
S ECONOMIC COLLAPSE:
Frederick Lewis Allen, O
NLY
Y
ESTERDAY
, New York, 1931, pp. 159–61; Winfield Townley Scott, “Shoetown,” C
OLLECTED
P
OEMS
, New York, 1962, p. 31; Susan Cheever, H
OME
B
EFORE
D
ARK
, p. 9; Robb, “Cheever's Story,” p. 13; Beatrice Wood to SD, 26 May 1985; Mrs. Gordon S. Mustin to Lillian H. Wentworth, 21 March 1983; Robert C. Daugherty to SD, 29 November 1984; Rollin Bailey to SD, 4 September 1985.

F
ATHER
'
S DRINKING:
Robb, “Cheever's Story,” p. 12; JC, “The President of the Argentine,” A
TLANTIC
M
ONTHLY
, April 1976, p. 44; JC, journal, Brandeis library; JC, typescript 21; JC to Frederick Exley, 21 July 1972; JC, “The Folding Chair Set,” N
EW
Y
ORKER
, 13 October 1975, p. 38; JC, F
ALCONER
(New York, 1977), pp. 60–62.

M
OTHER
'
S REPUTATION:
Robert C. Daugherty to SD, 29 November 1984; Beatrice Wood to SD, 26 May 1985; Mrs. Gordon S. Mustin to Lillian H. Wentworth, 21 March 1983; Rollin Bailey to SD, 23 September 1985.

M
OTHER
'
S BUSINESS CAREER:
Thayer Academy transcripts; interview Doris Oberg, 5 June 1985; Rollin Bailey to SD, 4 September 1985; “Open Little Shop Around the Corner,” Q
UINCY
P
ATRIOT
-L
EDGER
, 30 September 1929, p. 2; JC, typescript 21; interview Eugene and Clayre Thaw, 15 July 1984; interview Robert Penn Warren and Eleanor Clark, 10 July 1984; Allen, O
NLY
Y
ESTERDAY
, p. 97.

M
OTHER
'
S DOMINATION OF FATHER:
Interview Dr. J. William Silverberg, 18 June 1984; interview Virginia Rice Kahn, 5 June 1985: Jinny Kahn suggested that the Christian Science doctrine “There is no father or mother except God” stood in the way of showing affection—she and Cheever used to spiel off the Scientific Statement of Being at parties; JC, typescript 21; JC, C
HRONICLE
, p. 126; Callaway, interview with JC, 15 October 1981; interview Dr. David S. Hays, 14 January 1985; JC, “Publick House,” T
HE
W
AY
S
OME
P
EOPLE
L
IVE
(New York, 1943), pp. 182–83; JC, “The Jewels of the Cabots,” T
HE
W
ORLD OF
A
PPLES
(New York, 1973), P. 26; JC, “The Edge of the World,” T
HE
W
AY
S
OME
P
EOPLE
L
IVE
(New York, 1943), pp. 75–77: the boy in this story is flunking out of school in his emotional distress; JC quoted in H
OME
B
EFORE
D
ARK
, pp. 3–4.

E
FFECT ON
JC
OF
F
ATHER
'
S WEAKNESS:
JC to Max Zimmer, 25 May 1977; interview Dr. D. J. Van Gordon, 30 June 1984; interview MC, 26 July 1984.

K
EEPING UP APPEARANCES, DANCING SCHOOL:
JC, “Thanks, Too …,” pp. C1, C6; interview Don Ettlinger, 4 June 1984; Baumann, “At Home,” p. 14; Rollin Bailey to SD, 23 September 1985; Eleanor Munro, “‘Not Only I the Narrator, but I John Cheever …,'” Ms., April 1977, p. 75; interview MC, 28 November 1984; JC, “In the Beginning,” N
EW
Y
ORKER
, 6 November 1937, pp. 77–80: this piece of straight reminiscence, not presented as fiction, provided an illuminating view of the social mores of the time and place.

JC
AT
T
HAYER
A
CADEMY:
Baumann, “At Home,” p. 13; Gordon Godfrey to SD, August 1985; Thayer Academy transcript: during that time the Thayer school required five years of high school study for graduation; Robert C. Daugherty to SD, 29 November 1984; Callaway, interview with JC, 15 October 1981; Grace L. Osgood to SD, 23 August 1985.

“E
XPELLED
”
AND REACTION:
John Cheever, “Expelled,” N
EW
R
EPUBLIC
, 1 October 1930, pp. 171–74; Lillian H. Wentworth, “… And Recalled,” pp. 44–46; interview Lillian H. Wentworth, 15 October 1984; Lillian H. Wentworth to SD, 1 August 1985; Rollin Bailey to SD, 4 September 1985; Hugh Hennedy to SD, 9 October 1985.

C
AUSE OF EXPULSION:
Lillian H. Wentworth to Susan Cheever, 4 March 1983; Hersey, “Boy and Man,” p. 3; JC, “Jewels,” p. 15; interview Tom Glazer, 27 July 1984; interview Edward Newhouse, 5 June 1984; Beatrice Wood to SD, 26 May 1985. Some at Thayer feel that Cheever was not officially expelled, but fell so far behind in his grades that he could not recover. A note in his vertical file in the school library reads: “John Cheever, ex '31, was not expelled, but in the interests of drama considered himself to be.”

BROTHER

P
HYSICAL RETICENCE, SEXUALITY:
Interview MC, 10 April 1985; JC, C
HRONICLE,
pp. 79, 126–27; Baumann, “At Home,” p. 14; interview Federico Cheever, 11 February 1985; Mrs. Gordon S. Mustin to Lillian H. Wentworth, 21 March 1983; JC quoted in Susan Cheever, H
OME
B
EFORE
D
ARK
, pp. 174–75; Susan Cheever Cowley and JC, “A Duet of Cheevers,” N
EWSWEEK
, 14 March 1977, p. 69.

R
EADING:
H. Hobart Holly, ed., Q
UINCY
, pp. 53–54; Callaway, interview with JC, 15 October 1981; Seligson, “Portrait,” p. 2.

F
RED HOME, FATHER
'
S DECLINE:
Interview Dennis Coates, 8 October 1984; Coates, dissertation, pp. 21, 25–26, 29; Frederick L. Cheever, Jr., to Dennis Coates, 20 October 1973; JC to Elizabeth Ames, 4 May 1935; JC to Malcolm Cowley, 1931; “Chronicler of Suburbia,” MD., March 1978, p. 109; JC, “Jewels,” p. 23; JC, “National Pastime,” pp. 14, 22–24; interview MC, 12 July 1984; JC, typescript 21.

B
OSTON
B
OHEMIA, RADICALISM:
Coates, dissertation, pp. 27–28: this dissertation is particularly valuable because it is based in large part on conversations and correspondence with John Cheever and his brother, Fred; Frederick Bracher, notes from a meeting with JC, 9 February 1965; Rollin Bailey to SD, 30 August 1985 and 23 September 1985; JC, “President,” pp. 43–44; JC to Malcolm Cowley, 1933; Lee, “Ovid,” p. 69; Daniel Aaron, W
RITERS ON THE
L
EFT
, New York, 1961, pp. 70–71, 367; Robin Dougherty to SD, 4 October 1985; Jon Cheever, “Fall River,” T
HE
L
EFT
, Autumn 1931, pp. 70–72; JC to Allan Gurganus, 21 March 1974; Samuel Coale, J
OHN
C
HEEVER
(New York, 1977), p. 5; Susan Cheever, H
OME
B
EFORE
D
ARK
, p. 24.

B
OSTON LITERARY CAREER:
JC to Richard Johns, 1930, 1931, and 17 October 1967; JC, “Late Gathering,” P
AGANY
, October–December 1931, pp. 15–19; JC, “Bock Beer and Bermuda Onions,” H
OUND AND
H
ORN
, April–June 1932, pp. 411–20; interview Hazel Hawthorne Werner, 1 July 1984; Father George W. Hunt, interview with JC, fall 1979; Michael Janeway, “Glimpses of Cheever,” B
OSTON
S
UNDAY
G
LOBE
, 27 June 1982, p. A22; JC to Laurens Schwartz, 16 October 1975. In the light of Cheever's later image as a sort of country gentleman of letters, it is interesting that the editors of H
OUND AND
H
ORN
cited his name, among others, as evidence that all their contributors did N
OT
belong to the leisure class: Mitzi Berger Hamovitch, T
HE
H
OUND AND
H
ORN
L
ETTERS
(Athens, Ga., 1982), pp. 20–21.

I
NTIMACY OF
F
RITZ AND
J
OEY:
Interview James Valhouli, 15 October 1984; interview Candida Donadio, 15 June 1984; Quincy city directories, 1930–35; Boston city directories, 1932–35; Savage, “The Long and the Short,” p. 31; JC, “In Passing,” A
TLANTIC
M
ONTHLY
, March 1936, pp. 339–42; Charles Flato to MC, 19 June 1982.

Y
ADDO
, E
LIOT:
JC to Elizabeth Ames, 24 April 1933; JC to Malcolm Cowley, late spring 1933; Peter Ackroyd, T. S. E
LIOT:
A L
IFE
(New York, 1984), pp. 192–98; JC to Elizabeth Ames, spring 1934; Y
ADDO
, pamphlet distributed at the artists' retreat; Stephen Altman, “Paradise Regained,” C
ULTURAL
P
OST
(National Endowment for the Humanities), March/April 1977; Marjorie Peabody Waite, Y
ADDO
Y
ESTERDAY AND
T
ODAY
(Albany, 1933), pp. 27–37; interview Dorothy Farrell, 9 April 1985.

L
EAVING
F
RED
, B
OSTON:
Susan Cheever Cowley and JC, “A Duet,” p. 69; Hersey, “Boy and Man,” p. 31; Robb, “Cheever's Story,” pp. 27–28, 35; interview Rick Siggelkow, 23 October 1984; interview Hazel Hawthorne Werner, 1 July 1984; JC, “The Brothers,” T
HE
W
AY,
pp. 155–75; interviews Jane Cheever Carr, 27 September 1983 and 5 June 1984; interview Ben Cheever, 19 October 1984.

STARTING

C
OWLEY AND
W
ERNERS:
Interview Frances Lindley, 17 September 1984; JC, C
HRONICLE
, pp. 106–9; Malcolm Cowley to JC, 29 November 1979; Malcolm Cowley, “John Cheever: The Novelist's Life as a Drama,” S
EWANEE
R
EVIEW
, Winter 1983, pp. 1–2; Robb, “Cheever's Story,” p. 28; interview Hazel Hawthorne Werner, 1 July 1984; Frederick Bracher, notes from a meeting with JC, 9 February 1965; JC to Dennis Coates, 1974.

MGM, H
UDSON
S
TREET:
Annette Grant, “John Cheever: The Art of Fiction XXII,” P
ARIS
R
EVIEW
, Fall 1976, p. 52; Callaway, interview with JC, 15 October 1981; JC to Whit Burnett, 2 November 1961; JC to Rick Siggelkow, 1977; JC to Elizabeth Ames, late summer 1934.

R
EVIEWING, BOOK PROPOSAL:
Malcolm Cowley, “Novelist's Life,” p. 2; Malcolm Cowley, T
HE
D
REAM OF THE
G
OLDEN
M
OUNTAINS:
R
EMEMBERING THE
1930s (New York, 1980), pp. 260–62; JC, “While the Fields Burn,” N
EW
R
EPUBLIC
, 26 September 1934, pp. 191–92; interview Malcolm Cowley, 12 June 1984; JC to Malcolm Cowley, 1934.

Y
ADDO, LONG WINTER:
Interview Arthur Spear, 19 July 1983; JC to Max Zimmer, 25 May 1977; JC, typescript 8; JC to Elizabeth Ames, fall 1934; Archie Hobson, ed., R
EMEMBERING
A
MERICA:
A S
AMPLER OF THE
WPA A
MERICAN
G
UIDE
S
ERIES
(New York, 1985), pp. 74, 76; Joseph Barbato, interview with JC, 27 October 1978; JC to Malcolm Cowley, 8 January 196__.

S
TORIES
,
N
EW
Y
ORKER:
JC to Elizabeth Ames, late 1934–early 1935; JC, “Of Love: A Testimony,” T
HE
W
AY
, p. 66; Malcolm Cowley, “Novelist's Life,” pp. 3, 11; interview Malcolm Cowley, 12 June 1984; Dana Gioia et al., interview with JC, 23 January 1976.

H
ARD TIMES IN FICTION:
Malcolm Cowley, D
REAM,
ix–xii; JC, “Brooklyn Rooming House,” N
EW
Y
ORKER
, 25 May 1935, pp. 76–77; JC, “In Passing,” pp. 159, 331–43. Almost all of Cheever's fiction during the mid-1930s dealt with working-class characters or with middle-class characters fallen on hard times.

S
UMMER AT
Y
ADDO:
JC to Elizabeth Ames, late 1934–early 1935, 22 April 1935, and 4 May 1935.

W
ORKING FOR
W
ALKER
E
VANS:
JC to Elizabeth Ames, fall 1935; interview Hazel Hawthorne Werner, 1 July 1984; W
ALKER
E
VANS AT
W
ORK
(New York, 1982), p. 117; interview Frances Lindley, 17 September 1984.

FWP
TURNDOWN
, Y
ADDO, NOVEL:
Monty Noam Penkower, T
HE
F
EDERAL
W
RITERS
' P
ROJECT
(Urbana, 1978), p. 159 and throughout; JC to Malcolm Cowley, 23 October 1935; interview Frances Lindley, 17 September 1984; Daniel Fuchs to SD, 8 May 1984; interview Daniel and Sue Fuchs, 11 February 1985; interview William Maxwell, 9 April 1985; interview Robert Penn Warren and Eleanor Clark, 10 July 1984; JC to Elizabeth Ames, 25 May 1936; JC to Dennis Coates, 9 July 1974.