John Cheever – Interesting Literature

John Cheever’s ‘The Fourth Alarm’: Summary and Analysis

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Fourth Alarm’ was published in 1970. This is significant given how much this John Cheever story reflects the sexual revolution of the 1960s (especially the last few years of that busy decade) and the changing attitudes to gender and sex that this brought. It features nudity, theatre, someone writing on a pair of naked buttocks, and a lack of regard for social mores. What’s not to love?

As if that wasn’t enough of an incentive to read it, it’s also blessed with that rare quality which often makes a short story even more appealing as a prospect: it’s one of Cheever’s shortest. It does everything it needs to in just six pages.

A Summary and Analysis of John Cheever’s ‘The Worm in the Apple’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

The short stories of John Cheever (1912-82) are among the greatest American short stories of the twentieth century. His Collected Stories runs to 900 pages and contains tales which are by turns realist, borderline magic-realist, and downright strange.

A Summary and Analysis of John Cheever’s ‘Reunion’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Reunion’ is a 1962 short story by the American writer John Cheever (1912-82). In the story, a young man meets up for a reunion with his father, but his father’s rude manner leads to their reunion being a failure.

‘Reunion’, like much of John Cheever’s short fiction, seems straightforward and can easily be comprehended, but there are some interesting ambiguities in the narrative which are worthy of closer analysis. First, though, here’s a brief summary of the story’s plot.

The Symbolism of Cheever’s ‘The Swimmer’ Explained

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Swimmer’ (1964) is John Cheever’s best-known story. This tale, which fuses realist and surrealist elements, is about a middle-aged married man who decides to travel home from his friends’ house one summer afternoon, swimming in the various swimming pools he encounters on his route.

A Summary and Analysis of John Cheever’s ‘The Swimmer’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Swimmer’ is a 1964 short story by the American writer John Cheever (1912-82), published in his collection The Brigadier and the Golf Widow. Cheever’s best-known story, ‘The Swimmer’ is about a middle-aged married man who decides to travel home from his friends’ house one summer afternoon, swimming in the various swimming pools he encounters on his route.