John Cheever (65 page)

T
ELEVISION VENTURE:
Ralph Tyler, “How a Trio of Cheever Stories Made It to TV,” N
EW
Y
ORK
T
IMES
, 14 October 1979, p. B33; Barbato, interview with JC, 27 October 1978; Callaway, interview with JC, 15 October 1981; tape recording, Lloyd Moss interview with JC, “This Is My Music,” WQXR, 12 January 1980; Jack Thomas, “Cheever Leads Showcase Series,” B
OSTON
G
LOBE
, 10 January 1982, TV Week, p. 2; JC, “Breaking Into Television at the Age of Seventy,” T
HE
D
IAL
, January 1982, pp. 13–16.

C
HILDREN
, M
AX
, H
OPE:
Interview Dr. J. William Silverberg, 18 June 1984; interview Leonard Field, 18 September 1984; interview Max Zimmer, 27 June 1984 and 19 July 1984; interview Ben Cheever, 19 October 1984; interview Hope Lange, 24 October 1984.

U
NION
L
EAGUE MEDAL:
JC, acceptance speech, Union League gold medal, 1980, typescript 11.

S
EIZURE, AFTEREFFECTS:
Interview Allan Gurganus, 16 September 1984; interview Lee Hyla and Joan Silver, 16 January 1985; JC quoted in Susan Cheever, H
OME
B
EFORE
D
ARK
, pp. 228–30; JC quoted in Hunt, H
OBGOBLIN
, pp. xiii–xiv; interview Sally Swope, 8 November 1983; interview Eugene Kennedy, 23 April 1985; Jovanovich, “Mary Cheever on Her Own,” p. A3; Kennedy, “Mountain,” p. 6.

K
IDNAPPING
REVISION
, “I
SLAND
,” S
KIDMORE:
Interview Paul Bogart, 11 February 1985; interview Burton Benjamin, 19 June 1984; interview Ann Blumenthal, 15 January 1985; Jonathan Black, “Directing Cheever,” T
HE
D
IAL
, January 1982, p. 17; JC, “The Island,” N
EW
Y
ORKER
, 27 April 1981, p. 41; JC to Joseph and Anne Palamountain, 25 May 1981.

O
PERATION, CANCER, DEPRESSION:
Dr. Marvin Schulman, record of operation, Phelps Memorial Hospital, 20 April 1981; John Updike to SD, 25 June 1984; JC to Dr. Marvin Schulman, 3 July 1981; Dr. Marvin Schulman, operative reports, Phelps Memorial Hospital, 10 July 1981 and 14 July 1981; interview Robert G. and May Collins, 26–27 September 1985; Updike, tribute at memorial service, 22 June 1982; Max Zimmer journal; Gioia, “Meeting Mr. Cheever,” p. 434; interview Dr. Marvin Schulman, 26 June 1984; interview Dr. D. J. Van Gordon, 30 June 1984.

S
CREENING
, C
AVETT:
Interview Rick Siggelkow, 24 July 1984; Burton Benjamin, tribute at memorial service, 23 June 1982; Steven Hager, “Cheever on Writing for TV,” H
ORIZON
, December 1981, p. 56; Joshua Gilder, “John Cheever's Affirmation of Faith,” S
ATURDAY
R
EVIEW
, March 1982, p. 17; interview Father George W. Hunt, 29 June 1984; interview Rick Siggelkow, 24 July 1984; JC to John Updike, 18 November 1981.

D
ECEMBER DEATH NOTICE:
Dr. Marvin Schulman, record of operation, Phelps Memorial Hospital, 4 December 1981; Dr. Marvin Schulman to JC, 25 March 1982; interview Father George W. Hunt, 29 June 1984; interview Max Zimmer, 27 June 1984; JC, “Christmas Morning 1981”; interview Aline Benjamin, 5 July 1984; Susan Cheever, H
OME
B
EFORE
D
ARK
, pp. 97–98; interview Don Ettlinger, 4 June 1984.

T
REATMENT:
Interview Max Zimmer, 27 June 1984; interview William H. Luers, 22 August 1985; interview MC, 10 April 1985.

C
RITICAL ATTENTION, PROPOSED GALA:
Samuel Coale, J
OHN
C
HEEVER
(New York, 1977); Lynne Waldeland, J
OHN
C
HEEVER
(Boston, 1979); SD, “John Cheever,” A
MERICAN
W
RITERS:
A C
OLLECTION OF
L
ITERARY
B
IOGRAPHIES
, ed. Leonard Unger, Supplement I, Part 1 (New York, 1979), pp. 174–99; Hunt, H
OBGOBLIN;
C
RITICAL
E
SSAYS ON
J
OHN
C
HEEVER
, ed. Robert G. Collins (Boston 1982); Richard Rupp to JC, 2 December 1981; JC to Robert G. Collins, 24 January 1982 and 3 March 1982.

E
DGAR, FRIENDSHIPS, OPTIMISM:
Benidt, “Conversations,” p. 10; interview Ben Cheever and Janet Maslin, 8 November 1983; Susan Cheever, H
OME
B
EFORE
D
ARK
, pp. 148–49; JC to William Maxwell, 31 January 1982; interview Arthur Spear, 19 July 1983; Saul Bellow to JC, 9 December 1981; Malcolm Cowley, “Novelist's Life,” pp. 15–16; Geoff Walden, “Illness Aside, Cheever Full of Surprises,” O
SSINING
C
ITIZEN
R
EGISTER
, April 1981, p. A12; JC to Allan Gurganus, 10 February 1982; JC to James McConkey, 31 March 1982; JC quoted in Susan Cheever, “My Father's Life,” p. 172.

ENDINGS

S
HADY
H
ILL
K
IDNAPPING
,
HOME:
T
HE
S
HADY
H
ILL
K
IDNAPPING
, produced by Ann Blumenthal, directed by Paul Bogart, written by JC, shown 12 January 1982 as the opening production of A
MERICAN
P
LAYHOUSE;
interview Paul Bogart, 11 February 1985; interview Father George W. Hunt, 29 June 1984.

P
ARADISE:
Interview Allan Gurganus, 16 September 1984; interview Robert G. Collins, 26–27 September 1985; Gilder, “Affirmation,” p. 18.

N
ATIONAL
M
EDAL CEREMONY:
Interview Max Zimmer, 19 July 1984; William Styron, presentation speech, April 1982; interview Father George W. Hunt, 29 June 1984; JC, “A Page of Good Prose,” quoted in Edwin McDowell, “A
BOUT
B
OOKS AND
A
UTHORS
,” N
EW
Y
ORK
T
IMES
B
OOK
R
EVIEW
, summer 1982; JC quoted in Susan Cheever, H
OME
B
EFORE
D
ARK
, p. 234.

L
ITERATURE AND ITS USES:
JC quoted in Hunt, H
OBGOBLIN
, p. xi; Gioia et al., interview with JC, 23 January 1976; Hersey, “John Hersey Talks,” p. 22; John Hersey to SD, 22 July 1984; JC, “Mailer's ‘Song,'” C
HICAGO
T
RIBUNE
B
OOK
W
ORLD
, 7 October 1979, p. 1; JC, “My Friend, Malcolm Cowley,” N
EW
Y
ORK
T
IMES
B
OOK
R
EVIEW
, 28 August 1983, p. 18; JC quoted in Michiko Kakutani, “In a Cheever-like Setting, John Cheever Gets MacDowell Award,” N
EW
Y
ORK
T
IMES
, 11 September 1979, p. C7; Brans, “Stories to Comprehend,” p. 338.

C
OMPARISONS:
Robert A. Morace, “Long-Distance Thoughts on ‘Cheever Studies,'” paper read at Northeast Modern Language Association meeting, March 1986; Eugene Chesnick, “The Domesticated Stroke of John Cheever,” N
EW
E
NGLAND
Q
UARTERLY
, December 1971, pp. 531–32; John W. Crowley, “John Cheever and the Ancient Light of New England,” N
EW
E
NGLAND
Q
UARTERLY
, pp. 551–52; Updike compares the penultimate paragraph of P
ARADISE
with the end of W
ALDEN
in his letter to JC, 15 November 1981; Elizabeth Hardwick, “Cheever, or the Ambiguities,” N
EW
Y
ORK
R
EVIEW OF
B
OOKS
, 20 December 1984, p. 3; Samuel Coale, “Cheever and Hawthorne: The Romancer's Art,” C
RITICAL
E
SSAYS
, pp. 193–209; Saul Bellow, “On John Cheever,” p. 38; interview T. Coraghessan Boyle, 11 February 1985.

F
ITZGERALD CONNECTION:
Barbato, interview with JC, 27 October 1978; interview Bernard Malamud, 18 January 1985; John Updike, tribute at memorial service, 22 June 1982; Elizabeth Hardwick, “The Family Way,” N
EW
Y
ORK
R
EVIEW OF
B
OOKS
, 6 February 1964, pp. 4–5; Stanley Kauffmann, “Cheever, Fitzgerald, Hemingway,” W
ILSON
L
IBRARY
B
ULLETIN
, May 1965, 766–67; John le Carré to MC, 27 June 1982; JC, “F. Scott Fitzgerald,” A
TLANTIC
B
RIEF
L
IVES
, ed. Louis Kronenberger (Boston, 1971), pp. 275–76.

W
ILL TO LIVE
, M
ARY, HUMOR:
Interview MC, 6 June 1983; interview Ben Cheever, 19 October 1984; Leahy, “Mary,” p. 10.

L
AST VISITS:
Interview Raphael Rudnik, 18 January 1985; interview Allan Gurganus, 16 September 1984; interview Steve Phillips, 23 October 1984; interview Ben Cheever, 19 October 1984; interviews Max Zimmer, 27 June 1984, 19 July 1984, and 25 July 1984; Max Zimmer journal.

F
INAL DAYS, DEATH:
Interview MC, 26 July 1984; interview Roger and Maureen Willson, 29 July 1984; interview Saul Bellow, 10 July 1984; Susan Cheever, H
OME
B
EFORE
D
ARK
, pp. 234–35; Merrill, “Everyday Haunts,” p. 34; interview Ben Cheever, 19 October 1984.

N
ORWELL SERVICE, BURIAL:
Interview Jane Cheever Carr, 27 September 1983; Allan Gurganus to Pauline Hanson, July 1982; Coale, “Portrait,” pp. 1–2; mimeographed schedule of memorial service, First Parish of Norwell, 22 June 1982; Federico Cheever, remarks at memorial service, 22 June 1982; interview Allan Gurganus, 16 September 1984; John Updike, tribute at memorial service, 22 June 1982; interview Max Zimmer, 27 June 1984; interview Susan Cheever, 16 January 1985; John Hersey to MC, 23 June 1982.

O
SSINING SERVICE, CONDOLENCES:
Geoff Walden, “Area Remembers Man Who Loved Ossining,” O
SSINING
C
ITIZEN
R
EGISTER
, 20 June 1982; “Ossining Loses Literary Treasure,” O
SSINING
C
ITIZEN
R
EGISTER
, 22 June 1982; interview Robert Cowley, 21 June 1984; Saul Bellow, “On John Cheever,” p. 38; Burton Benjamin, remarks at memorial service, 23 June 1982; Eugene Thaw, remarks at memorial service, 23 June 1982; John Updike to JC, 11 December 1981; “John Cheever,” B
OSTON
G
LOBE
, 22 June 1982, p. 18; Raphael Rudnik journal, late June 1982; Malcolm Cowley to MC, 28 September 1982.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book is based on interviews and correspondence with those who knew John Cheever well; on his published writings, a few of his journals, and several fragmentary typescripts; on more than a thousand letters he wrote, along with a smaller number of letters written to him; and on discussions of the man and his work in memoirs, recorded interviews, and articles and books.

About 170 interviews yielded both information and insights, and I am grateful to those who were kind enough to talk with me, often at considerable length and sometimes on several occasions, about their memories and impressions of John Cheever: Vassily Aksyonov, Shana Alexander, Marion Ascoli, Lauren Bacall, Stephen Becker, Saul Bellow, Aline Benjamin, Burton Benjamin, Anne Bernays, Connie Bessie, Simon Michael Bessie, Dr. LeClair Bissell, Ebie Blume, Peter Blume, Ann Blumenthal, Paul Bogart, Susan Boyd, Mimi Boyer, Philip Boyer, T. Coraghessan Boyle, John Bukovsky, Hortense Calisher, Henry Carlisle, Jane Cheever Carr, Hayden Carruth, Burnham Carter, Susan Carter, Raymond Carver, Bev Chaney, Jr., Ben Cheever, Federico Cheever, Mary Cheever, Susan Cheever, Robert Chibka, Barrett Clark, Eleanor Clark, Jane Clark, Dennis Coates, May Collins, Robert G. Collins, Molly Malone Cook, Malcolm Cowley, Muriel Cowley, Robert Cowley, John Crutcher, John Dirks, Mary Douglas Dirks, Candida Donadio, Nina Engel, Don Ettlinger, Katrina Ettlinger, Frederick Exley, Dorothy Farrell, Leonard S. Field, Daniel Fuchs, Sue Fuchs, John C. Gerber, Tom Glazer, Robert Gottlieb, Allan Gurganus, Pauline Hanson, Curtis Harnack, Dr. David S. Hays, Shirley Hazzard, John Hersey, Sandra Hochman, James Holmes, Eugenia Hotchkiss, Joseph W. Hotchkiss, Father George W. Hunt, Lee Hyla, Elizabeth Janeway, Dr. Frank Jewett, Dr. Robert A. Johnson, E. J. Kahn, Jr., Virginia Rice Kahn, Justin Kaplan, Eugene Kennedy, Carol Kitman, Donald C. Lang, David Lange, Hope Lange, John Leggett, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, John Leonard, Frances Lindley, Tanya Litvinov, Elizabeth Logan, Robert F. Lucid, William H. Luers, Morris Lurie, Norman Mailer, Ann Malamud, Bernard Malamud, Janet Maslin, Iole Masullo, Ruth Maxwell, William Maxwell, James McConkey, Mary McNeil, Margaret M. Mills, Ted Mills, Lucy Miner, Peggy Murray, Dr. Raymond Mutter, Edward Newhouse, Charles Newman, Anne Palamountain, Frank Perry, Lila Refrigier, Don Reiman, Ginger Reiman, Natalie Robins, Ned Rorem, Philip Roth, David Rothbart, Raphael Rudnik, Dudley Schoales, Dudley Schoales, Jr., Grace Schulman, Dr. Marvin L. Schulman, Philip Schultz, Laurens R. Schwartz, Nellie Shannon, Charles Shapiro, Judith Sherwin, Rick Siggelkow, Joan Silver, Dr. J. William Silverberg, Dave Smith, Gray Smith, Arthur P. Spear, Stella Spear, Anthony Spencer, Sara Spencer, Susan Spencer, Gayatry Spivak, George Starbuck, Francis Steegmuller, Richard G. Stern, Ezra Stone, Sally Swope, Clayre Thaw, Eugene V. Thaw, James Valhouli, Dr. D. J. Van Gordon, Aileen Ward, Robert Penn Warren, Lillian H. Wentworth, Hazel Hawthorne Werner, Margot Wilkie, Alan D. Williams, Maureen Willson, Roger Willson, Will Wyatt, and Max Zimmer.