He and his wife, Mary, endured a bitter, mutually spiteful marriage for 40 years, throughout which he battled a chronic alcoholism that almost killed him and tried desperately to suppress a bisexuality that all but overwhelmed him. Not unusual for a writer, Cheever lived a life that was mostly free of great drama, yet one that remained fixed in a perpetual state of crisis. This biography confirms his earlier judgment. As John Updike wrote upon slogging through his colleague's published journals, "Rarely has a gifted and creative life seemed sadder." Updike was Cheever's only serious rival as pre-eminent chronicler of the midcentury suburban experiment, and he was also an astute critic. Like Yates, Cheever's work is overdue a reappraisal, but the artist's life makes for a disturbing read.
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