I am currently trying to figure out what to say about “The Housebreaker of Shady Hill.” I was originally going to say that it was a bad story but much better than his early bad stories, because it’s still surprising. Only, I’m not sure that it’s a bad story. It’s a messy story and it has an anti-climatic ending, but I’m not sure if it’s bad. I’m also writing an article about editing my first anthology and accidentally starting Dybbuk Press, which should come later today.
So in the interest of actually getting something out to my readers, here’s my earlier articles on John Cheever stories.
First, there’s “Goodbye My Brother” where I spend more time talking about John Cheever’s literary legacy than the story. This would be a theme in these early articles.
Next comes “The Common Day” in which Cheever writes a story that takes place over the course of a day as if he’s a Neoclassical playwright.
Finally, there’s “The Big Radio,” a story that would have ended up in a pulp magazine had John Cheever not been the darling of The New Yorker fiction editors. It also leads to a discussion about engagement.
Apologies as they have too many images. I think I had developed the image habit from Tumblr and had yet to find a good compromise between one picture and a picture every two paragraphs.
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I’m almost done writing about Teddy Bear Cannibal Massacre, so feel free to buy a copy and read along.