Cheever

It is one of my favorite American short stories, dripping with martinis & angst. Written during the era of Mad Men, John Cheever’s The Swimmer begins on a summer day in an upper class neighborhood of suburban NYC. Middle aged Ned appears in the backyard of of his friends & neighbors, who he has not seen in quite some time. Before the neighbors can welcome him, Ned jumps into their swimming pool with much vim & vitality. Ned learns that with the addition of a recent swimming pool in another neighbor's backyard, he can literally swim from swimming pool to swimming pool, to his home which is miles away. He names the route Lucinda's River, after his wife. He makes this journey despite some obstacles along the way. At each swimming pool, Ned stops & chats with his neighbors. Each stop reveals more of Ned's life so far until he reaches his final destination. The story is both realistic & surreal.

Cheever, born on this day in 1912, has been dubbed the "Checkhov of the suburbs". When traveling in the late 1970s, I carried around a paperback volume of The Stories Of John Cheever, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1979.

My Aunt Sharon gave a subscription to The New Yorker for Christmas when I was 11 years old, & improbably, I actually read it cover to cover each week. I still do. Cheever was a frequent contributor to The New Yorker & is considered the very definition of The New Yorker writer.

Cheever's world is marked by the spiritual & emotional emptiness of life. He made note of the manners & morals of the middle-class with an ironic sense of humor that helped balance his bleak view. He died in 1982.  After his death, his discovered letters & journals revealed that he was bisexual. Cheever had long marriage & produced 3 children, but he also had affairs with many men.

His attitude towards his own bisexuality is shown in his writing. His early works are marked by ambivalence & stereotypes, but his later stories give into to recognition & redemption.

There is an especially well done & unlikely 1968 film adaptation of The Swimmer starring Burt Lancaster looking yummy in period swim trunks. The film was directed by Frank Perry, with small roles filled by Kim Hunter, Cornelia Otis Skinner, Janice Rule, Marge Champion & Joan Rivers, with a score by Marvin Hamlisch. Check it out. Make note of a very young Joan Rivers in the trailer. She has to be proud of this credit, I know I would.