Reading the story "O City of Broken Dreams" by John Cheever about an aspiring playwright who brings his family to New York to pursue their dreams and what stood in their way you may need to know more about the peculiarities of the author's style. Below you will find some notes of a contemporary American literary critic on Cheever's style.
The Style of John Cheever
From the Cheever works that I have read, I have discovered a style that is independent from any other writer in American Literature. Cheever tells his stories through his unique and powerful narrative style with which he is most associated. His style leaves room for the reader to add his or her own input. Moods, intentions, messages and many other things are implicitly told, allowing the reader to interpret the book the way he or she would like to. In his tales of the American Suburb, Cheever is very insightful onlooker of American manners and social customs. He often begins his stories such as “Goodbye, My Brother and the “Housebreaker of Shady Hill” as a passive observer and as the story unfolds the narrator slowly becomes a commentator that interprets the thoughts and feelings of the characters. He established his style in The New Yorker, and is known by many as sophisticated, poised, removed, sarcastic, and amusing. Significance in American Literature When discussing the Significance of John Cheever in American Literature, it is impossible to pick just a few works that defined him as a writer. He was master of the American short story and a brilliant commentator on the American suburban culture. His keen observations of the world brought his readers into a world that was full of truths of everyday life, delving into many subjects that were not normally viewed from his non-judgmental perspective. He allowed his reader to view the world from a narrator’s eyes, bringing color and vibrancy to American culture. The settings of his stories came from his surroundings, as did the attitudes, opinions, and disposition of his characters. He was not falsifying American life; he was depicting it as he saw it unravel. He was rarely critical of his character’s, despite their sometimes radical actions, as in “Housebreaker of Shady Hill” and “The Death of Justina,” in which he merely is painting a picture of the character’s life and allowing the reader to make his or her own judgments about the situation. Cheever made it possible for the American short story to prosper. His love for life and writing made him the magnificent writer that he is known as today. Though his life, which was full of both self-inflicted and endured pain, he was able to live to see his work appreciated. Cheever was among the great writers that were able to depict America in all of its acute intricacies and mystifying beauties.
The Style of John Cheever
From the Cheever works that I have read, I have discovered a style that is independent from any other writer in American Literature. Cheever tells his stories through his unique and powerful narrative style with which he is most associated. His style leaves room for the reader to add his or her own input. Moods, intentions, messages and many other things are implicitly told, allowing the reader to interpret the book the way he or she would like to. In his tales of the American Suburb, Cheever is very insightful onlooker of American manners and social customs. He often begins his stories such as “Goodbye, My Brother and the “Housebreaker of Shady Hill” as a passive observer and as the story unfolds the narrator slowly becomes a commentator that interprets the thoughts and feelings of the characters. He established his style in The New Yorker, and is known by many as sophisticated, poised, removed, sarcastic, and amusing. Significance in American Literature When discussing the Significance of John Cheever in American Literature, it is impossible to pick just a few works that defined him as a writer. He was master of the American short story and a brilliant commentator on the American suburban culture. His keen observations of the world brought his readers into a world that was full of truths of everyday life, delving into many subjects that were not normally viewed from his non-judgmental perspective. He allowed his reader to view the world from a narrator’s eyes, bringing color and vibrancy to American culture. The settings of his stories came from his surroundings, as did the attitudes, opinions, and disposition of his characters. He was not falsifying American life; he was depicting it as he saw it unravel. He was rarely critical of his character’s, despite their sometimes radical actions, as in “Housebreaker of Shady Hill” and “The Death of Justina,” in which he merely is painting a picture of the character’s life and allowing the reader to make his or her own judgments about the situation. Cheever made it possible for the American short story to prosper. His love for life and writing made him the magnificent writer that he is known as today. Though his life, which was full of both self-inflicted and endured pain, he was able to live to see his work appreciated. Cheever was among the great writers that were able to depict America in all of its acute intricacies and mystifying beauties.
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