Susan Cheever Writer, Teacher, Speaker
Susan Cheever's next book--WHEN ALL THE MEN WORE HATS: Susan Cheever
on the stories of John Cheever--will be published on October 28 by Farrar, Straus.
In this elegant and loving portrait of a fellow writer—her father— Susan Cheever takes a deep dive into the mechanics and imagination of story-telling. Both a writing lesson and a critical study, this book shows how the flow of influences around him brilliantly merged in John Cheever's imagination and became the best short stories of the century. This work is an exploration of the connections between art and life delving into how everyday moments—local gossip, myth, even a translation of Madame Bovary—became the seeds for masterpieces like "The Swimmer" and "The Country Husband" .
THREE starred reviews.
In this lively, provocative memoir. Susan Cheever (Drinking in America, 2015) here moves fluidly between jaunty literary analyses and charged memories of a father who "was a wise man on the page and an idiot at the lunch table," (Margaret Quamme/Kirkus)
(Cheever) blends literary analysis and memoir in this transcendent look at her father's most influential works. (Publishers Weekly)
Regarding his hidden sexuality, she also brings modern insight to a subject that was considered so taboo at that time. "Did living a lie help him create the lie that is the truth of fiction? The best lies, as he well knew, are the ones that sail closest to the truth. The best fiction is fiction that seems to be real."
An eloquent and fully immersive portrait of a renowned author.( Booklist.)
In addition to her writing and teaching career, Susan is an experienced and enthusiastic public speaker about recovery, about e. e. cummings, American History and the writing process. E-mail her at susancheever [at] gmail.com to ask her to speak to your group.
My Fifteen Favorite Books
Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
A book suffused with longing for the lost world of adulthood.
Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
A book suffused with longing for the lost world of childhood.
In Pharoah's Army by Tobias Wolff
Elegant and electrifying book about the war in Vietnam and the war in our hearts.
Fierce Attachments by Vivian Gornick
A daughter writes about her mother with grace and wit.
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
A beautiful meditation on the nature of physical beauty.
Art and Ardor by Cynthia Ozick
Everything she writes is brilliant.
An American Childhood by Annie Dillard
The title says it all.
The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams
The gold standard.
The Shadow Man by Mary Gordon
A daughter writes about her father with grace and wit.
Salvation on Sand Mountain by Denis Covington
One of the best memoirs ever written.
Haywire by Brooke Hayward
A daughter writes about her family.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
All politics are autobiographical; this great book is an example.
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton: perfect beginning, perfect middle, perfect ending.
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders: everything you need to know
about writing, reading, and surviving overnight in a blizzard.
James by Percival Everett: A study of freedom.