Questions About The Stories of John Cheever

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Could you tell that the author was gay!?!?! I was shocked to hear that John Cheever was gay because I didn't get any "gay" vibes from his book. I'm not saying that I expected there to be guys doing tango but the heterosexual relationships depicted in this book had verisimilitude. Did any readers pick up that he was gay just from reading his work?

Jim I'm a bit surprised, even disappointed by your question - but here goes - it was not cool to let on about homosexual leanings in Cheever's era - espec…moreI'm a bit surprised, even disappointed by your question - but here goes - it was not cool to let on about homosexual leanings in Cheever's era - especially from the mainstream blue blood east coast elites that he struggled with being a part of. Cheever's bio is quite complicated - he was one of the great authors of that period - but he did struggle with his sexuality as well as alcoholism. I suppose you would label him as bi sexual in that he certainly had relationships with many women too.... some of his stories such as Falconer have a distinct homosexual thread, as well as his last book O What a Paradise it Seems.

I don't know that you can tell an author's sexual inclinations or leanings from their writing - certainly if they don't want to show it - but many of Cheever's themes touched on the emptiness of middle class suburban living... and the mindless pretending that folks can wake from in middle age realizing they have been sleep walking thru an unhappy life. He was very much a writer of that time - I hope you get a chance to read more of his works. (less)

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I've never read anything by Cheever and I'd like to read an individual collection rather than this complete works edition. Which one should I start from?

Jesse This collection isn't a "complete works edition." He wrote at least 172 short stories, 61 of which are collected here. It omits, largely if not entire…moreThis collection isn't a "complete works edition." He wrote at least 172 short stories, 61 of which are collected here. It omits, largely if not entirely at his request, much of his earlier work (at least 50 stories pre-"The Sutton Place Story," which was first published in 1946). I think your issue will be finding one of his shorter collections that is still in print. If you must do a collection, I like The Brigadier and the Golf Widow, but I would do yourself a favor and read The Stories of John Cheever. Awards don't mean that much, but there's a reason that this collection won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the National Book Award.(less)

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