Oh What a Paradise It Seems
Novella by John Cheever
0394513347Oh What a Paradise It Seems is a 1982 novella by John Cheever. It is Cheever's last work of fiction, published shortly before his death from cancer.[1]
The main character is Lemuel Sears, an elderly computer-industry executive, twice-widowed, who pursues an ardent but unsuccessful love affair with Renee, a beautiful but elusive woman who works in real-estate.[2] There are numerous subplots. Sears becomes involved in another love affair, and is also funding an investigation of the pollution of Beasley's Pond in Connecticut, where he enjoys ice skating.[2] The novella reprises many of Cheever's familiar themes, including love, lust, life in suburbia, and a sense of displacement.[3]
Reception
Writing in the New York Times, John Leonard called the novella "perfect Cheever; it is perfect, period."[3] In The Boston Phoenix, Rhoda Koenig said that "In Paradise, [Cheever] puts the emphasis on the right place: the profound sadness of trying to return to the springs of life and being reminded of the futility of trying to stop death and time. This is a slight book, and at times it tries too hard to wring tears, but it also conveys the poignance of that quest, the enchantment of music heard over the water."[4]
John Updike, a friend of Cheever, preferred it to Cheever's novel Falconer, and remarked on the theme of ice skating, which he called his "Wordsworthian hike" and his "connection with elemental purity and the awesome depths above and below".[5]
References
- ^ New, W.H.; Rosengarten, H.J., eds. (1986). Modern Stories. Addison-Wesley Longman. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-7730-4564-4.
- ^ a b "Oh What a Paradise It Seems". Kirkus Reviews (1 March 1982). Retrieved 27 February 2015.
- ^ a b Leonard, John. "Cheever Country". New York Times. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
- ^ Koenig, Rhoda (16 March 1982). "Books: Cheever's water music". The Boston Phoenix. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ Updike, John (2 December 1991). "John Updike Beautifully Explains How Difficult It Was To Read John Cheever's Tortured Journals". New Republic. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
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John Cheever
- The Wapshot Chronicle (1957)
- The Wapshot Scandal (1964)
- Bullet Park (1969)
- Falconer (1977)
- Oh What a Paradise It Seems (1982)
- The Way Some People Live (1943)
- The Enormous Radio and Other Stories (1953)
- The Housebreaker of Shady Hill and Other Stories (1958)
- Some People, Places, and Things That Will Not Appear in My Next Novel (1961)
- The Brigadier and the Golf Widow (1964)
- The World of Apples (1973)
- The Stories of John Cheever (1978)
- Thirteen Uncollected Stories by John Cheever (1994)
- "Expelled" (1930)
- "Fall River" (1931)
- "Late Gathering" (1931)
- "The Brothers" (1937)
- "Publick House" (1941)
- "The Enormous Radio" (1947)
- "Torch Song" (1947)
- "The Hartleys" (1949)
- "Goodbye, My Brother" (1951)
- "O Youth and Beauty!" (1953)
- "The Five-Forty-Eight" (1954)
- "The Day the Pig Fell Into the Well" (1954)
- "The Country Husband" (1954)
- "The Wrysons" (1958)
- "The Scarlet Moving Van" (1959)
- "The Music Teacher" (1959)
- "The Seaside Houses" (1961)
- "Reunion" (1962)
- "The Swimmer" (1964)
- "The Geometry of Love" (1966)
- "The World of Apples" (1966)
- "The Fourth Alarm (1970)
- "Artemis, the Honest Well-Digger" (1972)
- "The Country Husband" (Playhouse 90) (1956)
- The Swimmer (1968)
- The Five Forty-Eight (1979)
- Parc (2008)
