The Stories of John Cheever
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978. 1st Edition. Large octavo, publisher's black cloth, spine and upper board gilt, original illustrated dust jacket.
"Fiction is art and art is the triumph over chaos…to celebrate a world that lies spread out around us like a bewildering and stupendous dream." Presentation copy first edition of prolific American author John Cheever’s Pulitzer Prize-winning collection, inscribed by Mary and John Cheever (in Mary's hand) to 20th-century American composer Ned Rorem. Often referred to as the "Chekhov of the suburbs," novelist and short story writer John Cheever is celebrated for his elegant and exacting prose, acute explorations of middle class life in the US, and lively, episodic style. Before his death in 1982, he was arguably the most famous living writer. An immediate national bestseller, this anthology comprises 61 short stories, including many of his best known, such as "The Enormous Radio," "The Five-Forty-Eight," and "The Swimmer." Dust jacket designed by R.D. Scudellari. Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Ned Rorem, hailed as "the world's best composer of art songs," is also known for his series of published diaries offering candid insights into his personal life, creative development, friendships and love affairs with prominent cultural figures. Tantalizingly, Rorem and the conflicted, bisexual Cheever had a brief romantic encounter at the Yaddo artists' colony in 1966, and in the months following, which Rorem recounts in the third volume of his diaries, The Nantucket Diary (1987): "John Cheever, on seeing me again at Yaddo – we’d met there four years earlier, when I broke my ankle – decided I should be the first (so he claimed) male he would embrace. Of our weeklong idyll I made notes in this book while it was taking place, and during the urban months following while it decayed and died. Of all the infantile authors I’ve known, John was the most likable..." (The protagonist of Cheever's celebrated story "The Swimmer," first published in 1964, is named Ned.) Mary Cheever, a writer and educator, endured her husband's alcoholism and philandering with men and women, and cared for him until his death from cancer. She has gracefully inscribed the present volume, in the month of publication, in black ink to the front endpaper: "for Ned / with affectionate birthday greetings / from Maya & John / 23 Oct 78." Light shelfwear to bottom edge of textblock; price-clipped dust jacket with light toning and minor edgewear. Near fine. An intriguing presentation-association copy of one of the great collections in 20th-century American fiction. Item #10234
$400.00