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Cheever: A Life.
by BAILEY, BLAKE
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Somerville, Victoria, Australia
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York; Alfred A. Knopf; 2009.. First Edition; Thick Med. 8vo; pp. x, 770, (4); 16 pages of b/w. photographs, notes, index, bound in original quarter black cloth with beige papered boards, title lettered in silver on spine, dustjacket, fine copy.
Synopsis
From the acclaimed author of A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates comes the unforgettable life of John Cheever (1912--1982), a man who spent much of his career impersonating a perfect suburban gentleman, the better to become one of the foremost chroniclers of postwar America. "I was born into no true class," Cheever mused in his journal, "and it was my decision, early in life, to insinuate myself into the middle class, like a spy, so that I would have an advantageous position of attack, but I seem now and then to have forgotten my mission and to have taken my disguises too seriously." Written with unprecedented access to essential sources--including Cheever's massive journal, only a fraction of which has ever been published--Blake Bailey's biography reveals the troubled but strangely lovable man behind the disguises, an artist who delighted in the everyday radiance of the world while yearning, above all, "to be illustrious."Cheever's was a soul in conflict: he was a proud Yankee who flaunted his lineage while deploring the provincialism of his Quincy, Massachusetts, family circle; a high-school dropout who published his first story at eighteen; a pioneer of suburban realist fiction who continually pushed the boundaries of realism; a dire alcoholic who recovered to write the great novel Falconer; a secret bisexual who struggled with his longings and his fierce homophobia in a revolving door of self-loathing and hedonism. We see a man who concealed his anxieties behind the mask of a genial Westchester squire--a paterfamilias in Brooks Brothers clothes whose world was peopled by legendary writers and beautiful women (Malcolm Cowley, Saul Bellow, William Maxwell, Hope Lange, and John Updike, among them); whose groundbreaking work landed him on the covers of Time and Newsweek; a man whose demons and desperation were never quite vanquished by the joy he found in his work.Blake Bailey has written a luminous biography, a revelation of a writer of timeless fiction and of the man behind the page.From the Hardcover edition.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Time Booksellers
(AU)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 115002
- Title
- Cheever: A Life.
- Author
- BAILEY, BLAKE
- Book Condition
- Used
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- New York; Alfred A. Knopf; 2009.
- Keywords
- american biography writer literature
Terms of Sale
Time Booksellers
We accept payment by Mastercard and Visa. We also accept Bank cheques in Australian dollars and electronic bank transfer. If books are not found to be as described, notify us within 7 days and we will arrange refund. Insurance on shipments is available, please ask for a quote. All orders will be processed and shipped within 24 hrs, books are professionally packed in both bubble wrap and cardboard containers. All information supplied by our clients is kept confidential and secure and will not be used for any other purpose.
About the Seller
Time Booksellers
Biblio member since 2003
Somerville, Victoria
About Time Booksellers
Time Booksellers is a member of ANZAAB and ILAB. We have been in business since 1978, and specialise in rare and collectible books and have over 25,000 titles listed on the internet.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
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