John Cheever

He married Mary Winternitz in 1941. The couple had two children, a son and a daughter.

He was an alcoholic and that badly affected his health, personal life and professional career. Later, he joined Smithers Alcoholic Rehabilitation Unit in New York and never drank again.

He was diagnosed with cancer in 1981 and died in 1982 after the disease ravaged his entire body.

He was born as the second child of Frederick Lincoln Cheever and Mary Liley Cheever. His father was a successful shoe salesman and gave his children a comfortable upbringing. However, the business suffered during the Great Depression.

He went to the Thayer Academy in 1926 and transferred to Quincy High in 1928. He returned to Thayer but was expelled in 1930. Cheever wrote a story about his expulsion, titled, ‘Expelled’ which was published in ‘The New Republic’.

His family’s financial woes continued and his parents separated. This was a very difficult and mentally stressful time for him. Later on his parents reconciled and he renewed his relations with them.

He led a nomadic life for sometime, traveling between Manhattan, Saratoga, Lake George and Quincy. He had few material possessions and was a wanderer though he continued to write.

His story ‘Buffalo’ was bought by the ‘The New Yorker’ for $45 in 1935. This was the first of the many stories of his that would be published in the newspaper. Maxim Lieber served as his literary agent from 1935 to 1941.

He began working for the Federal Writers’ Project in Washington D.C. in 1938. He did not like the work there and quit after a year.

During World War II, he enlisted to serve in the army in 1942. During this time he also continued his writings. His first collection of short stories, ‘The Way Some People Live’ was published in 1943. The book received mixed reviews.

He was married and had a family by the time the war ended. After the war he took his family with him to Manhattan. Random House publishing gave him a $ 4, 800 advance to resume work on his novel, ‘The Holly Tree’ in 1946. He had begun working on the novel before the war.

His short story collection, ‘The Stories of John Cheever’ was his best known work. It had some of his most popular stories including ‘The Enormous Radio’, ‘Goodbye, My Brother’, ‘The Country Husband’ and ‘The Swimmer’. It won several prestigious awards.