A Miscellany of Characters That Will Not Appear

by John Cheever

Short story

Unknown Binding

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

[Connie G · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an essay or a sketch of subjects and character types that Cheever will not use in his future works. Ironically, there are a few character types included that might describe Cheever himself later in life. He also uses some of these character types in future works.

"A Miscellany" is the last work in the collection "Some People, Places, and Things That Will Not Appear in My Next Novel." This sketch suggests that Cheever was considering a departure from his past themes, and going in a new direction in his next work.

"A Miscellany of Characters That Will Not Appear" is #40 in the collection "The Stories of John Cheever."

[Kansas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Otro cuento sin argumento especifico, sino que Cheever lo construye a modo de estudio de personajes, personajes que quizás en su momento no encontrarían hueco en otros huecos pero que sin embargo aquí encajan a la perfección. Veo este cuento más como un ensayo sobre estilo, sobre hasta donde llegar en su descripción de personajes.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Miscellany of Characters That will not Appear by John Cheever
Excellent


In A Miscellany of Characters the author mentions homosexuality, a fact which has attracted my attention.
Here I would probably delve into trivial gossip and innuendo for one thing and then I have a premonition that I will get away from the subject altogether
- So there’s some kind of alert, albeit not the usual spoiler
I can’t remember where or how I have read about the fact that Cheever is supposed to have been a homosexual.
Or is it just that he entertained some of the fantasies…I am not sure.
- Where am I going with this?
- I am not sure
But I also recall having read that the character that is mentioned in Seinfeld, in an episode with love letters in a cabin is John Cheever.
And the love feelings were for another man.
Having said that, I just happen to have watched a BBC documentary on ancient Greece, Sparta to be more precise.
They were talking about the wedding traditions that included having the bride to be shaving her head and dress in men’s attire.
The wearing of belts and men’s shirts are assumed to have made things easier for the man, accustomed as he was with intimacy with other men.
For in the Ancient Greece that we admire so much, sexual relations involved men with other men, with the older initiating the young.
In other words, the recent legislation that has come to pass in many democracies regarding same sex marriages may just be a return to normal.
But in the days of John Cheever it was not as easy as that, it was in fact illegal to have sex with another man.
In A Miscellany there are a number of characters and at number 2 there is –
- All parts of Marlon Brando
Which sounds funny and interesting, but I do not get what the idea is, perhaps it is just dry humor or a reference to Brando, who was infamous for strange behavior in his private life- and public, with the mediatized refusal of the Oscar.
At 5:
“All lushes. For example: The curtain rises on the copy office of a Madison Avenue advertising agency, where X, our principal character, is working out the exploitation plans for a new brand of rye whiskey.”
This makes me wonder what the relationship was between John Cheever and advertising.
I can’t remember where, but the reference to ad men, or is it Mad Men now? - comes up in several of the short stories.
6 is the number dedicated to homosexuality- of a sort.
And here the explanation for the orientation of the sixteen year old boy appears to be the excessive tenderness and attention of the mother.
She is somehow neglected by her husband and turns all her overwhelming affection towards her son who will become feminine.
At least that is the suggestion that appeared in my mind, when I read about the boy’s longing for the sea and the other boys…and girls.
Instead of going out with people his own age, he is secluded with his mother that loves him too much for his own good.
She even hangs her pearls around his neck.
Nevertheless, I think that all that behavior does not make any difference, since the sexual orientation is not determined by nurture, but by nature.

Unless I am wrong.

[Classic reverie · Rating 3 out of 5]

"A Miscellany of Characters That Will Not Appear" is a mish mosh of confusing, unforgettable characters. I am sure I am missing something that others will see. I generally enjoy his stories but this is my first one that I felt I wasted my time, thankfully it was extremely short. I usually always give 5 stars but I just couldn't here.


"It takes two conductors to get him down the stairs. He has lost his hat, his necktie, and his topcoat, and someone has blacked his right eye. He still holds the dispatch case under one arm. No one speaks, no one weeps as they get him into the car and drive him out of our sight, out of our jurisdiction and concern. Out they go, male and female, all the lushes; they throw so little true light on the way we live."

"He is a little bored. He would rather be with men and girls his own age, but his mother has supported him and defended him so he finds some security in her company. She has been a staunch and formidable protector. She can and has intimidated the headmaster and most of the teachers at his school. Offshore he sees the sails of the racing fleet and wishes briefly that he were with them, but he refused an invitation to crew and has not enough self-confidence to skipper, so in a sense he chose to be alone on the beach with his mother. He is timid about competitive sports, about the whole appearance of organized society, as if it concealed a force that might tear him to pieces; but why is this? Is he a coward, and is there such a thing? Is one born a coward, as one is born dark or fair? Is his mother’s surveillance excessive; has she gone so far in protecting him that he has become vulnerable and morbid? But considering how intimately he knows the depth of her unhappiness, how can he forsake her until she has found other friends?"

[mark propp · Rating 1 out of 5]

wtf was this bs?

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could find no point in this list of character-types that Cheever says he will write about. In fact, he wrote about most of them.

(#40 - Stories of John Cheever)