Reception
Biographer Blake Bailey notes that a number of critics registered "a vaguely troubled note about the direction of Cheever's work." [5] Orville Prescott in the daily New York Times considered some of the stories "sinister fantasies", among these "The Swimmer" and "The Ocean." [6] Critic John W. Aldridge attacked Cheever's "nightmare tonalities", comparing the stories to "macabre" creations of cartoonist Charles Addams. [7]
The critical response to The Brigadier and the Grass Widow was largely positive and marks a period during which Cheever "began to attain his first genuine fame and wealth." [8]
The Brigadier and the Golf Widow is one of Cheever's most sophisticated satires on suburban life, especially its Edenic satisfactions. But in its obsessions with the bomb scares, it could be more accurately called an eschatological parable; that is, the entire focus of the story, its tone and theme, deals with the end of the world, the last judgment, and heaven and hell."—Literary critic Patrick Meanor in John Cheever Revisited (1995). [9]
In a Time magazine review by Alwyn Lee, Cheever was approvingly dubbed the "Ovid in Ossining." [10] The title, according to biographer Patrick Meanor, "encapsulates Cheever's major attitude toward his subject matter and identifies his use of myth as the major structuring principle of his fiction. His specific use of Ovidian themes of transformation and metamorphosis becomes increasingly obvious from The Brigadier and the Golf Widow, until the end of his career, particularly in two of his most anthologized stories, "The Swimmer" and "The Music Teacher"." [11]
Critic Lynn Waldeland reports that the collection contains "the greatest number of frequently anthologized stories, including "The Swimmer", "The Angel of the Bridge", "Clementina", and "The Music Teacher"." Critic William Pelen "declared The Brigadier and the Golf Widow Cheever's best volume of short stories." [12]
"The Swimmer" is a short story by American author John Cheever. It was originally published in The New Yorker on July 18, 1964, and later in the short fiction collections The Brigadier and the Golf Widow (1964) and The Stories of John Cheever (1978). Considered one of the author's most outstanding works, "The Swimmer" has received exhaustive analysis from critics and biographers.
The Housebreaker of Shady Hill and Other Stories is a collection of short fiction by John Cheever. Composed of eight short stories, the volume was first published by Harper & Bros. in 1958. Reissued by Hillman/MacFadden in 1961, the works are included in The Stories of John Cheever (1978). The works were originally published individually in The New Yorker.
"The Hartleys" is a work of short fiction by John Cheever, first published in The New Yorker on January 22, 1949. The story was included in The Enormous Radio and Other Stories (1953), and in The Stories of John Cheever (1978).
The Enormous Radio and Other Stories is a collection of short fiction by John Cheever published in 1953 by Funk and Wagnalls. All fourteen stories were first published individually in The New Yorker. These works are included in The Stories of John Cheever (1978) published by Alfred A. Knopf.
The Way Some People Live is a collection of 30 works of short fiction by John Cheever, published in 1943 by Random House.
"Goodbye, My Brother" is a short story by John Cheever, first published in The New Yorker, and collected in The Enormous Radio and Other Stories (1953). The work also appears in The Stories of John Cheever (1978).
"O Youth and Beauty!" is a short story by John Cheever first published in The New Yorker on August 22, 1953. The work was included the collection of Cheever's short fiction The Housebreaker of Shady Hill and Other Stories (1958) by Harper and Brothers. The story is also included in The Stories of John Cheever (1978).
Some People, Places and Things That Will Not Appear In My Next Novel is a collection of short fiction by John Cheever, published by Harper and Bros. in 1961. These nine short stories first appeared individually in The New Yorker or Esquire magazines. These works are included in the collection The Stories of John Cheever (1978), published by Alfred A. Knopf.
The World of Apples is the sixth collection of short fiction by author John Cheever, published in 1973 by Alfred A. Knopf. The ten stories originally appeared individually in The New Yorker, Esquire, The Saturday Evening Post or Playboy.
"Torch Song" is a short story by John Cheever which first appeared in The New Yorker on October 4, 1947. The work was included in the short fiction collection The Enormous Radio and Other Stories (1953), published by Funk and Wagnalls. "Torch Song" is included in The Stories of John Cheever (1978).
"The Wrysons" is a short story by John Cheever published by The New Yorker on September 15, 1958. The work was included in the collection volume Some People, Places, and Things That Will Not Appear in My Next Novel (1961) published by Harper and Brothers. The story also appears in The Stories of John Cheever (1978).
"The Country Husband" is a short story by John Cheever which first appeared in The New Yorker on November 20, 1954. The work was included in the collection of Cheever's short fiction The Housebreaker of Shady Hill and Other Stories (1958) published by Harper and Brothers. The story also appears in The Stories of John Cheever (1978).
"The Scarlet Moving Van" is a short story by John Cheever which first appeared in The New Yorker on March 21, 1959. The work was included in the short fiction collection Some People, Places, and Things That Will Not Appear in My Next Novel (1961), published by Harper and Brothers.
"The Music Teacher" is a short story by John Cheever which first appeared in The New Yorker on November 21, 1959. The work was included in the short fiction collection The Brigadier and the Golf Widow (1964), published by Harper and Row. The story is one Cheever's most anthologized works, and regarded as "a genuine masterpiece" of short fiction. "The Music Teacher" is included in The Stories of John Cheever (1978).
"The Seaside Houses" is a short story by John Cheever which first appeared in The New Yorker on July 29, 1961. The work was included in the short fiction collection The Brigadier and the Golf Widow (1964), published by Harper and Row.
"The Brothers" is a short story by John Cheever which first appeared in The Yale Review in June 1937. The work was included in the short fiction collection The Way Some People Live (1943), published by Random House.
"Publick House" is a short story by John Cheever which first appeared in The New Yorker on August 16, 1941. The work was included in the short fiction collection The Way Some People Live (1943), published by Random House.
Thirteen Uncollected Stories by John Cheever is a volume of short fiction by John Cheever published in 1994 by Academy Chicago Publishers. Most of the works in this collection were written between 1931 and 1942 during which Cheever was in his late teens to his late twenties.
"Expelled" is a short story by John Cheever published by The New Republic in 1930. The story appears in a collection of Cheever's short fiction, Thirteen Uncollected Stories by John Cheever, published in 1994 by Academy Chicago Publishers
"The World of Apples" is a work of short fiction by John Cheever, first appearing in Esquire, December 1966. The story was collected in the volume The World of Apples (1973), published by Alfred A. Knopf.
