John Cheever

John Cheever 1912-82, American author, b. Quincy, Mass. His expulsion from Thayer Academy was the subject of his first short story, published by the New Republic when he was 17. With meticulously rendered detail, Cheever writes about life in the affluent American suburbs. Although his works are usually comic, his view is that of a moralist. Among his works are the novels The Wapshot Chronicle (1957), The Wapshot Scandal (1964), and Falconer (1977); and two short-story collections.

Bibliography: See his journals (1991); his letters, ed. by B. Cheever (1988); biographies by S. Donaldson (1988) and S. Cheever, Home Before Dark (1984); study by L. Waldeland (1979).

Cheever, John (1912–82) US short story writer and novelist. Cheever's works satirize the morals of American suburban life, particularly 1940s Manhattan. His novel The Wapshot Chronicle (1957) won a National Book award. His short-story collection The Stories of John Cheever (1978) won a Pulitzer Prize.

Cheever, John (1912–82), American novelist, whose sophisticated, ironic novels and short stories (many published in the New Yorker) satirize affluent suburban New England life. His novels include The Wapshot Chronicle (1957), The Wapshot Scandal (1964), Bullet Park (1969), and Falconer (1977). He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1979 for The Stories of John Cheever. His Letters were published in 1987, edited by his son Benjamin Cheever.