Susan Cheever on the Stories of John CheeverSusan Cheever
Audio only
Length7h 33m
About this audiobook
A sympathetic and illuminating account of the stories of John Cheever, and the intersecting life and work of the legendary writer John Cheever, as told by his eldest daughter.
The Stories of John Cheever, published in 1978, brought together some of the finest short fiction ever written. The collection was honored with the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and it would go on to sell millions of copies and to define the American short story and shape generations of writers. Cheever’s chronicles of modern life both emerged from a distinctly American culture and also created it—inspiring everything from Mad Men to a Raymond Carver story, from rock songs to a Seinfeld episode.
Growing up, Susan Cheever, John Cheever’s eldest child and only daughter, read what he read, heard what he heard, bantered and gossiped with him and her brothers and mother at the dinner table, and later watched her father type on the cheap yellow paper he favored. A daughter much like Susan appears in many of Cheever’s stories and a family much like theirs is at the center of his writing.
In When All the Men Wore Hats, Susan Cheever looks back on her father’s work and seeks to understand the connections between art and life. How did a bit of local gossip, a slice of Greek myth, and a new translation of Madame Bovary somehow become a brilliant gem like “The Country Husband” or “The Swimmer”? In her 1984 book Home Before Dark, published two years after her father’s death, Cheever wrote movingly about her father and the secrets he kept, but here, years later, she tells the story of the remarkable stories themselves.
Family
Identity
Psychological
Hidden Identity
Redemption
Grief
Healing
Memory
Audiobook details
GenreBiography and Memoir, History
Length7 hrs 33 mins
Narrated byRecorded Track
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateDec 27, 2025
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1#1
8#8
2#2
9#9
3#3
10#10
4#4
11#11
5#5
12#12
Show all chaptersShow less
6#6
13#13
7#7
About the author
Susan Cheever
Susan Cheever is the author of many books on American history, the most recent of which is Drinking in America. She is also the author of numerous novels; a biography of the Alcoholics Anonymous cofounder Bill Wilson; and Home Before Dark, a memoir about her father, John Cheever. She teaches in the MFA programs at Bennington College and the New School.View all by Susan Cheever
