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CHEEVER: A LIFE by Blake Bailey Alfred A. Knopf, 2009 / $35.00 CLOTH / ISBN 9781400043941
Blake Bailey made a notable appearance on the literary scene in 2003 with his acclaimed biography of Richard Yates, A Tragic Honesty, an event that created a revival of interest in the neglected writer, including a movie version of his best novel Revolutionary Road (1961).
In preparation for writing this biography of the life and works of John Cheever, Bailey consulted the major archives of Cheever holdings, read all 4,300 manuscript pages of Cheever's journal, interviewed scores of family members and friends, edited the two-volume Complete Novels and Collected Stories and Other Writings for the Library of America, and collected photographs and reminiscences from every conceivable source. This exhaustive research is evident in the finished work of 770 pages, arranged chronologically into fifty chapters, including thirty-two pages of photographs and a detailed index.
As Bailey demonstrates dramatically, Cheever's writings and his life are intertwined like a double helix. His dysfunctional...