A Day with John Cheever

James Wolcott writing in Vanity Fair said, "If a tinge of melancholy haunts the cocktail hour, if a croquet mallet left derelict on the lawn evokes a broken merriment, if the bar car of a commuter train gives off a stale whiff of failed promise and bitter alimony, pause and pay homage to John Cheever. Light a bug candle on the patio in his honor. For Cheever-novelist, master of the short story, prolific diarist-is the patron saint of Eastern Seaboard pathos and redemption, the Edward Hopper of suburban ennui, preserving minor epiphanies in amber."

Cheever's short story, Reunion, gripped Jeff Swystun from the start. It is absolutely succinct at 824 words but has the heft of a full-length novel. That tale and others of Cheever's are referenced in this inventive short story that pays tribute to Cheever. It imagines a day with the writer in Manhattan and draws not only on his work but also his personal essays and the amazing biography penned by Blake Bailey. It explores the dark and light of being and being remembered.

So take a walk...and a drink...with John Cheever.