by John Cheever
BROTHER
PHYSICAL RETICENCE, SEXUALITY: Interview MC, 10 April 1985; JC, CHRONICLE, 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, HOME BEFORE DARK, pp. 174–75; Susan Cheever Cowley and JC, “A Duet of Cheevers,” NEWSWEEK, 14 March 1977, p. 69.
READING: H. Hobart Holly, ed., QUINCY, pp. 53–54; Callaway, interview with JC, 15 October 1981; Seligson, “Portrait,” p. 2.
FRED 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.
BOSTON BOHEMIA, 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, WRITERS ON THE LEFT, New York, 1961, pp. 70–71, 367; Robin Dougherty to SD, 4 October 1985; Jon Cheever, “Fall River,” THE LEFT, Autumn 1931, pp. 70–72; JC to Allan Gurganus, 21 March 1974; Samuel Coale, JOHN CHEEVER (New York, 1977), p. 5; Susan Cheever, HOME BEFORE DARK, p. 24.
BOSTON LITERARY CAREER: JC to Richard Johns, 1930, 1931, and 17 October 1967; JC, “Late Gathering,” PAGANY, October–December 1931, pp. 15–19; JC, “Bock Beer and Bermuda Onions,” HOUND AND HORN, 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,” BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE, 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 HOUND AND HORN cited his name, among others, as evidence that all their contributors did NOT belong to the leisure class: Mitzi Berger Hamovitch, THE HOUND AND HORN LETTERS (Athens, Ga., 1982), pp. 20–21.
INTIMACY OF FRITZ AND JOEY: 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,” ATLANTIC MONTHLY, March 1936, pp. 339–42; Charles Flato to MC, 19 June 1982.
YADDO, ELIOT: JC to Elizabeth Ames, 24 April 1933; JC to Malcolm Cowley, late spring 1933; Peter Ackroyd, T. S. ELIOT: A LIFE (New York, 1984), pp. 192–98; JC to Elizabeth Ames, spring 1934; YADDO, pamphlet distributed at the artists’ retreat; Stephen Altman, “Paradise Regained,” CULTURAL POST (National Endowment for the Humanities), March/April 1977; Marjorie Peabody Waite, YADDO YESTERDAY AND TODAY (Albany, 1933), pp. 27–37; interview Dorothy Farrell, 9 April 1985.
LEAVING FRED, BOSTON: 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,” THE WAY, pp. 155–75; interviews Jane Cheever Carr, 27 September 1983 and 5 June 1984; interview Ben Cheever, 19 October 1984.
STARTING
COWLEY AND WERNERS: Interview Frances Lindley, 17 September 1984; JC, CHRONICLE, pp. 106–9; Malcolm Cowley to JC, 29 November 1979; Malcolm Cowley, “John Cheever: The Novelist’s Life as a Drama,” SEWANEE REVIEW, 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, HUDSON STREET: Annette Grant, “John Cheever: The Art of Fiction XXII,” PARIS REVIEW, 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.
REVIEWING, BOOK PROPOSAL: Malcolm Cowley, “Novelist’s Life,” p. 2; Malcolm Cowley, THE DREAM OF THE GOLDEN MOUNTAINS: REMEMBERING THE 1930s (New York, 1980), pp. 260–62; JC, “While the Fields Burn,” NEW REPUBLIC, 26 September 1934, pp. 191–92; interview Malcolm Cowley, 12 June 1984; JC to Malcolm Cowley, 1934.
YADDO, 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., REMEMBERING AMERICA: A SAMPLER OF THE WPA AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES (New York, 1985), pp. 74, 76; Joseph Barbato, interview with JC, 27 October 1978; JC to Malcolm Cowley, 8 January 196__.
STORIES, NEW YORKER: JC to Elizabeth Ames, late 1934–early 1935; JC, “Of Love: A Testimony,” THE WAY, 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.
HARD TIMES IN FICTION: Malcolm Cowley, DREAM, ix–xii; JC, “Brooklyn Rooming House,” NEW YORKER, 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.
SUMMER AT YADDO: JC to Elizabeth Ames, late 1934–early 1935, 22 April 1935, and 4 May 1935.
WORKING FOR WALKER EVANS: JC to Elizabeth Ames, fall 1935; interview Hazel Hawthorne Werner, 1 July 1984; WALKER EVANS AT WORK (New York, 1982), p. 117; interview Frances Lindley, 17 September 1984.
FWP TURNDOWN, YADDO, NOVEL: Monty Noam Penkower, THE FEDERAL WRITERS’ PROJECT (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.
LILA REFRIGIER, LADIES’ MAN: Interview Dorothy Farrell, 9 April 1985; interview Lila Refrigier, 14 January 1985; JC to Eleanor Clark, 21 September 1977; interview Frances Lindley, 17 September 1984; interview Elizabeth Logan, 2 July 1984; JC to Allan Gurganus, 28 March 1974.
LITERARY FRIENDS, HOLLY TREE: Interview Laurens Schwartz, 29 July 1985; Dana Gioia et al., interview with JC, 23 January 1976; Coates, dissertation, p. 36; JC to Josephine Herbst, 1936; JC to Malcolm Cowley, 16 December 1936; Samuel Coale, “John Cheever: A Portrait” (unpublished paper, 1982), p. 7; JC to Elizabeth Ames, 1 February 1937; interview Jane Cheever Carr, 19 October 1984; JC “Way Down East,” NEW REPUBLIC, 11 December 1935, p. 146.
SPANISH CIVIL WAR AND WRITING: Interview Lila Refrigier, 14 January 1985; interview Dorothy Farrell, 9 April 1985; JC to Malcolm Cowley, 25 May 1937 and 8 January 196__; interview Malcolm Cowley, 12 June 1984; JC, “Behold a Cloud in the West,” NEW LETTERS IN AMERICA, ed. Horace Gregory and Eleanor Clark (New York, 1937), pp. 125–44; Dana Gioia et al., interview with JC, 23 January 1976.
MARY
COMMERCIAL FICTION, JOINING FWP: JC, “His Young Wife,” COLLIER’S, 1 January 1938, pp. 21–22, 46; Daniel Fuchs to SD, 8 March 1985; Hobson, REMEMBERING AMERICA, pp. 1–11; JC to Josephine Herbst, 1938; Penkower, FEDERAL WRITERS’ PROJECT, pp. 20–21, 51; Jerre Mangione, THE DREAM AND THE DEAL (Boston, 1972), pp. 102–03.
WASHINGTON FWP: JC, “Washington Boarding House,” THE WAY, pp. 116–21; JC to Josephine Herbst, 1938 (two letters), 1942 (two letters), 1950; JC, CHRONICLE, pp. 130–36; JC to Elizabeth Ames, 1938; Jerre Mangione, AN ETHNIC AT LARGE (New York, 1978), p. 237; Jerre Mangione to SD, 23 September 1985.
NEW YORK FWP: Penkower, FEDERAL WRITERS’ PROJECT, pp. 43, 70–71, 160, 170–71, 194–95; Mangione, DREAM AND DEAL, pp. 119, 188; NEW YORK CITY GUIDE (New York, 1979 reprint), front matter; transcription of federal service record, John W. Cheever, National Personnel Records Center, 21 February 1986; interview Ted Mills, 17 October 1985; Jim McGraw to SD, 6 June 1984.
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br /> TRIUNA: JC to Josephine Herbst, fall 1939 (two letters); “Not for Publication,” QUINCY PATRIOT-LEDGER, 17 March 1938, p. 9.
IMMINENCE OF WAR, MARRIAGE PROSPECTS: JC to Malcolm Cowley, 8 January 196__; JC, “I’m Going to Asia,” HARPER’S BAZAAR, 1 September 1940, pp. 61, 114; interview Elizabeth Logan, 2 July 1984; interview Frances Lindley, 17 September 1984; Rick Siggelkow to SD, 8 August 1984; interview MC, 7 June 1984.
MC’s FAMILY, YOUTH: Tanya Litvinov to SD, 31 January 1984; Callaway, interview with JC, 15 October 1981; interviews MC, 6 June 1983, 2 June 1984, 7 June 1984, 20 October 1984, 10 April 1985, and 30 May 1985; Marge Leahy, “Mary—the Other Cheever,” SUBURBIA TODAY (Westchester), 19 April 1981, pp. 6–10; MC, “Silverface,” THE NEED FOR CHOCOLATE AND OTHER POEMS (New York, 1980), p. 78; JC to Josephine Herbst, 1953; interview Dr. J. William Silverberg, 18 June 1984; JC to John Updike, 2 April 1977; Lee, “Ovid,” p. 70; MC, “Prospect Street,” THE NEED FOR CHOCOLATE, p. 91.
DECIDING ON MARRIAGE: JC to Elizabeth Ames, 26 December 1939; interviews MC, 7 June 1984 and 16 June 1984; Lloyd Moss, interview with JC, WQXR, 12 January 1980; interview Edward Newhouse, 5 June 1984.
SUMMER SEPARATION, NOVEL OUTLINE: JC to MC, summer 1940 (thirteen letters); Mabelle Fullerton, “Quincy Youth Is Achieving New York Literary Career,” QUINCY PATRIOT-LEDGER, 6 August 1940. pp. 1, 7.
JC’s RESERVATIONS: Interview Dorothy Farrell, 9 April 1985; interview Elizabeth Logan, 2 July 1984; JC, “A Present for Louisa,” MADEMOISELLE, December 1940, pp. 126–27, 154–57. For a record of Cheever’s publications, see Dennis Coates, “John Cheever: A Checklist, 1930–1978,” BULLETIN OF BIBLIOGRAPHY, January–March 1979, pp. 1–13, 49.
YADDO IN AUTUMN: JC to MC, fall 1940 (four letters).
WEDDING, SOCIAL LIFE: Interview MC, 16 June 1984; “John Cheever, Quincy Author, to Wed Mary Winternitz Today in New Haven,” QUINCY PATRIOT-LEDGER, 22 March 1941, p. 5; interviews MC, 7 June 1984, 16 June 1984, 28 June 1984, 12 July 1984, 26 July 1984, and 20 October 1984; interview William Maxwell, 9 November 1983; interview Elizabeth Logan, 2 July 1984.
ERWINNA, ENLISTMENT: JC to Josephine Herbst, summer 1941 and winter–spring 1942 (two letters); JC, “Run, Sheep, Run,” THE WAY, pp. 93–100; interview Elizabeth Logan, 2 July 1984; JC to Malcolm Cowley, 3 January 1942.
ARMY
INDUCTION, CAMP CROFT, SOUTH: JC to MC, May–August 1942 (nine letters); David Rothbart, WORLD WAR II ARMY JOURNAL (Pittsburgh, 1977, privately published), p. 2; JC, “Introduction,” THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLE (New York, 1965, TIME Reading Program special edition), p. xviii; JC to Josephine Herbst, 1954; JC, FALCONER (New York, 1977), pp. 36–37; JC to E. E. Cummings, summer 1942.
SERGEANT DURHAM: JC to MC, May–August 1942 (six letters); JC to Gus Lobrano, 8 September 1942; JC, “Sergeant Limeburner,” NEW YORKER, 13 March 1943, pp. 19–25.
CAMP GORDON, ARMY JOBS: JC to MC, August 1942–March 1943 (twenty letters); JC to William Maxwell, 16 August 1942 and 24 December 1942; JC, THE WAPSHOT SCANDAL (New York, 1964), p. 70; JC to Elizabeth Ames, September 1942; Rothbart, ARMY JOURNAL, pp. 35–103; David Rothbart to SD, 10 October 1985; interview David Rothbart, 15 October 1985; JC to Josephine Herbst, 24 October 1942; JC to E. E. Cummings, 8 October 1942; JC to Marion Morehouse, 5 September 1962; JC to Bennett Cerf, 15 October 1942; JC, “Dear Lord, We Thank Thee for Thy Bounty,” NEW YORKER, 27 November 1943, pp. 30–31; JC, “The Invisible Ship,” NEW YORKER, 7 August 1943, pp. 17–21.
THE WAY SOME PEOPLE LIVE: On dust-jacket copy, Bennett Cerf to JC, 19 October 1942; JC to Bennett Cerf, February 1943 and 14 March 1943; William DuBois, “Tortured Souls,” NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, 28 March 1943, p. 10; JC to MC, April 1943 (two letters); Struthers Burt, “John Cheever’s Sense of Drama,” SATURDAY REVIEW OF LITERATURE, 24 April 1943, p. 9; Weldon Kees, “John Cheever’s Stories,” NEW REPUBLIC, 19 April 1943, pp. 516–17; Random House profit and loss report, THE WAY, 31 October 1944.
UPTOWN
22ND INFANTRY AND JC: Dr. William S. Boice, HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-SECOND UNITED STATES INFANTRY REGIMENT IN WORLD WAR II (U.S. Army Military History Institute, 1959), pp. 1–3, 16–24, 28, 102–4, 110–n, 176–78; Jesse Kornbluth, “The Cheever Chronicle,” NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, 21 October 1979, p. 103; Robb, “Cheever’s Story,” p. 28; interview John and Mary Dirks, 16 July 1984.
CHELSEA, BIRTH OF SUSAN: Interview Elizabeth Logan, 2 July 1984; JC to Josephine Herbst, 9 August 1943; JC to Natalie Robins, 3 December 1968; Hersey, “John Hersey Talks,” p. 23.
ASTORIA, PROPAGANDA: John D. Weaver to MC, 19 June 1982; John D. Weaver (ghostwriter for Colonel Emanuel Cohen), “Film Is a Weapon,” BUSINESS SCREEN, 1946; Ted Mills to SD, 19 March 1985; interview Ted Mills, 17 October 1985; Leonard Spigelgass to SD, 11 September 1984; interview Edward Newhouse, 5 June 1984; interview Don Ettlinger, 4 June 1984; interview Peggy Murray, 11 June 1984; Caskie Stinnett to SD, 26 November 1985 and 12 December 1985.
COMMUNIST LEANINGS: Interview Ted Mills, 17 October 1985; interviews Don Ettlinger, 4 June 1984 and 9 November 1984; JC to Josephine Herbst, 1946 (two letters).
92ND STREET TOWN HOUSE: JC to Josephine Herbst, November 1944 and summer 1945 (two letters); MC to Josephine Herbst, 22 July 1945; interview Peggy Murray, 11 June 1984; interview MC, 16 June 1984; interview William Maxwell, 9 April 1985; interview Leonard Field, 18 September 1984; JC, “Town House” stories, NEW YORKER, 21 April 1945, 11 August 1945, 10 November 1945, 5 January 1946, 16 March 1946, and 4 May 1946.
GUAM, PHILLIPINES: Interview Dorothy Farrell, 9 April 1985; JC to MC, April–June 1945 (ten letters); Robert Cromie, interview with JC, BOOK BEAT, May 1973; JC, “Manila,” NEW YORKER, 28 July 1945, pp. 20–23; JC, “Love in the Islands,” NEW YORKER, 7 December 1946, pp. 42–44.
59TH STREET, DISCHARGE: MC to Josephine Herbst, late 1945; JC to Josephine Herbst, November 1945; interview Virginia Rice Kahn, 5 June 1985; interview Katrina Ettlinger, 4 June 1984; service records, National Personnel Records Center.
PARENTS, FATHER’S DEATH: Interview Dudley Schoales, Jr., 17 July 1984; interview Elizabeth Logan, 2 July 1984; interview Jane Cheever Carr, 5 June 1984; Hersey, “Boy and Man,” p. 32, maintains that JC did read Prospero’s speech at his father’s funeral, whereas Susan Cheever, HOME BEFORE DARK, p. 9, asserts that he refused to do so—in any event, “We are such stuff as dreams are made on” is engraved on his father’s tombstone; JC, typescript 21.
CANDLEWOOD, TREETOPS: Interview Don Ettlinger, 4 June 1984; JC to Josephine Herbst, 19 March 1946 and summer 1946; MC, “Happy Birthday, Susie,” THE NEED FOR CHOCOLATE, pp. 30–31; JC to Don and Katrina Ettlinger, 17 August 1946; interview Joseph H. and Eugenia Hotchkiss, 15 January 1985; JC, “The Summer Farmer,” THE ENORMOUS RADIO AND OTHER STORIES (New York, 1953), pp. 138–51; JC, “Vega,” HARPER’S, December 1949, pp. 86–95; JC, “How Dr. Wareham Kept His Servants,” REPORTER, 5 April 1956, pp. 40–45.
SUSIE AT SCHOOL, SOCIAL LIFE: JC to Don and Katrina Ettlinger, 2 October 1946; JC to Josephine Herbst, late 1946; interview Leonard Field, 18 September 1984.
FIELD VERSION: JC to Robert N. Linscott, September 1946; JC quoted in John D. Weaver, “John Cheever: Recollections of a Childlike Imagination,” Los ANGELES TIMES BOOK REVIEW, 13 March 1977, p. 3; JC to Robert N. Linscott, together with outline of novel, 16 December 1947; Robert N. Linscott to JC, 22 December 1947; JC to Robert N. Linscott, January 1950 and 13 October 1950.
MARY TEACHING, BIRTH OF BEN: JC to Josephine Herbst, 24 February 1947, 6 June 1947, and May 1948; interview MC, 28 June 1984.
TOWN HOUSE ON BROADWAY: JC to Josephine Herbst, summer-fall 1948 (three letters); Mabelle Fullerton, “Former Quincy Boy Courting Miracle,” QUINCY PATRIOT-LEDGER, 2 September 1948; JC, “The Origin of ‘Town House,’” BOSTON POST, 5 September 1948; interview Don Ettlinger, 4 June 1984; the three “theater” stories are “O City of Broken Dreams,” NEW YORKER, 24 January 1948, pp. 22–31, “The Opportunity,” COSMOPOLITAN, December 1949, pp. 44, 174–76, and “The People You Mee
t,” NEW YORKER, 2 December 1950, pp. 44–49.
LOWELL VS. AMES: Interview Elizabeth Logan, 2 July 1984; Elinor Langer, JOSEPHINE HERBST (Boston, 1984), pp. 270–71; Ian Hamilton, ROBERT LOWELL (New York, 1982), pp. 142–52; Eleanor Clark et al., “Statement to the Board of Directors of Yaddo” and letter to former Yaddo guests asking their support of Ames, both 21 March 1949; interview Robert Penn Warren and Eleanor Clark, 10 July 1984.
GUGGENHEIM: JC to Guggenheim foundation, 13 November 1950; Malcolm Cowley to Henry Allen Moe, 13 December 1950.
SCARBOROUGH
LEAVING NEW YORK: Interview Margot Wilkie, 25 June 1984; interview Allan Gurganus, 16 September 1984; JC, FALCONER, pp. 50–51; interview William Maxwell, 9 April 1985; William Maxwell to SD, 10 April 1985; JC, “Moving Out,” ESQUIRE, July 1960, pp. 67–68; JC to Josephine Herbst, May 1951; JC, “The Journal of a Writer with a Hole in One Sock,” REPORTER, 29 December 1955, p. 26; JC, “Where New York Children Play,” HOLIDAY, August 1951, pp. 46–47, 86–89.
CITY VS. COUNTRY: JC to Don and Katrina Ettlinger, 1946; JC to Josephine Herbst, 30 July 1950, MC to SD, 15 June 1985; JC, “Moving Out,” pp. 67–68.
BEECHWOOD AMBIENCE: E. J. Kahn, Jr., ABOUT THE “NEW YORKER” AND ME (New York, 1979), pp. 244–45; interview Dudley Schoales, 25 June 1984; Susan Cheever, HOME BEFORE DARK, pp. 81–85; interview MC, 7 November 1983; interview Edward Newhouse, 5 June 1984; JC to Malcolm Cowley, 28 January 1951; John D. Weaver, “Reminiscences,” p. 3; JC to Josephine Herbst, 8 June 1951; interview Virginia Rice Kahn, 5 June 1985; interview Federico Cheever, 10 February 1985.
SUBURBIA, SUSAN, BEN: A. C. Spectorsky, THE EXURBANITES (Philadelphia, 1955), pp. 91–107; JC to Josephine Herbst, November 1951; JC, “Hole in One Sock,” p. 25; interview Margot Wilkie, 25 June 1984; JC to William Maxwell, 1953.