John Cheever Reads the Swimmer/Cassette

by John Cheever

Audio Cassette

Published January 1, 1993

About the author

John Cheever was an American novelist and short story writer, sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs" or "the Ovid of Ossining." His fiction is mostly set in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the suburbs of Westchester, New York, and old New England villages based on various South Shore towns around Quincy, Massachusetts, where he was born.

His main themes include the duality of human nature: sometimes dramatized as the disparity between a character's decorous social persona and inner corruption, and sometimes as a conflict between two characters (often brothers) who embody the salient aspects of both--light and dark, flesh and spirit. Many of his works also express a nostalgia for a vanishing way of life, characterized by abiding cultural traditions and a profound sense of community, as opposed to the alienating nomadism of modern suburbia.

Reviews

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Death of Justina by John Cheever
Excellent and humorous, in spite of the title

This story reminded me of the communist regime.
Although we are talking about very different societies, there are some regulations that seem crazy, no matter where they apply
In this story, a death occurs as stated plainly in the title.
However gloomy the subject matter, John Cheever has inserted dark and excellent humor in the tale.
For instance:
- The passage where cousin Justina is said to have disgraced the family with her death

How can one disgrace anybody though one’s death?

And especially when the poor woman had not done anything wrong, any wild party or excessive drinking prior to her death.
She had come to visit and simply dropped dead.

But in this instance we can see what the authorities do to make life miserable for people, in various parts of the world.
Where I live, the communist tradition is still alive and kicking, but the frustrations and stupidity of public servants can be explained.
Up to a point.
It has to do with miserable wages, the aforementioned past that has impregnated the collective consciousness.
But what about the same phenomena in America, of all places?

I was more than surprised to read that after the death of Justina, the hosts could not do the proper thing.
It was turning into a Kafkaesque situation, with officials requiring a permit from another bureau.
But the second office asked for a paper from the previous one, all in a vicious circle which left the poor woman unburied.
The hero is funny and says:
- Well, if want to burry a cat I do not need a permission
- Yes, you do
- I am telling you, I just dig a hole and put the cat into it…
Mixed in all this tragic comedy are caustic lines that the hero makes up for his job, as an ad man, like Don Draper in the famous Mad Men
- Don’t lose you loved ones, because of radioactivity
- Do not be a victim of the fallout
- The lord is my shepherd, therefore I should lack nothing
- He shall feed me in a green pasture and lead me toward comfort
- You have been inhaling lethal atomic waste for the past twenty years: only elexicor can save you…

It is exhilarating to see the author make jokes on such a terrible and otherwise depressing issue, which was in the days when he wrote these stories of extreme concern for the world, faced as it was with extinction.
I guess that the thirteen days, when Kennedy was considering a tremendous response to the Soviet missiles to be stationed in Cuba, as an aggressive and incredibly provocative act directed at the United States were near.
For some readers, the continuation may be considered blasphemous, to some extent and if read with bigotry…I guess
For it appears to me that some of the slogans mock several bible sayings, like the shepherd that takes care of the Christian, the humble and faithful is always protected.
But I may have got this wrong and anyway, I am not religulous, so for me it does not touch any raw nerve or sensibility.

The story is very good, as usual.