There was a moment when the best American writers of the 20th Century were known for cranking out short stories that could only be found on the pages of Harper’s (edited by Mississippian Willie Morris,) Esquire, The New Yorker, and many more. Even true periodicals like Good Housekeeping (who once printed a story from Kurt Vonnegut,) welcomed these bite-size narratives tightly written for mass consumption.
John Cheever was born into one of the fortunate families of the early 20th Century. The son of a shoe salesman outside of Boston in Quincy, MA, Cheever was granted the unique perspective of seeing his once prosperous parents in slow decline. With his father succumbing to alcohol and his mother running a failed gift shop into the ground, teenage Cheever found no solace in education. Its compartmentalization and rigidity caused Cheever to get expelled for smoking, a tale that marked his first appearance in “The New Republic.”
As his family fell prey to a generational change due to the long fadeaway of the textile industry, Cheever carved out his place among a budding new group of writers. Separated from first his mother and father (foreclosure) and then his older brother (emotionally housed in the early short story “Goodbye, My Brother,”) Cheever led a peripatetic life between Manhattan, Quincy, and the writer’s colony at Yaddo.
Living out of his Model A, Cheever managed to make just enough money to stay on the road via his stories. In 1935, “Buffalo” was published in The New Yorker, which would serve as his main source of output for decades. As all new writers struggle, Cheever endured fits and starts. His first collection of short stories, 1943’s aptly titled “The Way Some People Live” received mixed reviews. Cheever’s unhappiness led to his tracking as many down for destruction as possible.
At one time, Cheever served in the Signal Corps (as an infantryman, most of his old company sadly perished at Normandy on D-Day.) Major Leonard Spigelgass also served in the Signal Corps. When a copy of “The Way Some People Live” fell into his hands, Spigelgass saw potential in Cheever. Now an executive at MGM, Spigelgass hired Cheever as a writer.
As his family grew (daughter Susan was born in 1943, followed by son Benjamin in 1948,) Cheever took care of his family on growing advances from major publishers. While toiling away on his longstanding novel “The Holly Tree,” Cheever’s true growth patterns could be charted from his numerous contributions to The New Yorker.
The Fifties were dawning and with that newfound post-war prosperity, a sense of upper-middle-class dissatisfaction and ennui penetrated his work. 1949’s “The Hartleys” is a startling example of his economy in prose and how well Cheever could peel back the layers to reveal the maladies everyone was trying to hide.
As you read “The Hartleys,” it may be hard to fathom their typical Northeastern lifestyle. What seems to be so upper-crust about a snowy ski vacation in a lodge is a little closer to a more middle-class getaway. Cheever provides a huge hint with the revelation that the Pemaquoddy Inn has a small hill behind it with a “primitive ski tow.” When the Pemaquoddy’s owner, the widow Mrs. Butterick tells the story of the tow, she repeats it verbatim each time. (Some readers may take comfort in that familiar part of our Southern idiom.)
Cheever reels off the most normal events and pursuits with a steady enough rhythm to make it feel as though time is passing. Mr. Hartley seems like a robust husband who is good at almost everything. Cheever describes his relationship with his daughter Anne in terms of near hero worship. All along there are hints of an imbalanced relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Hartley.
Mrs. Hartley is immediately labeled “absent-minded,” a term that is more disconcerting today than it was years ago. While Mrs.Hartley does forget her skis, you get the feeling that the action is almost a Freudian slip. In addition, Mr. and Mrs. Hartley regularly leave daughter Anne to head elsewhere.
Anne vacillates between fits of almost rage and comfort in either carefully selected acts of insubordination or quiet reflection by the fire. As you read, you want to pinpoint that some facet of Anne’s wild swings of emotion indicates something’s wrong (Cheever describes her as looking around with “the bleak, rational scrutiny of her age.”)
Like the winter storm around them, you feel the change happening. One early night at the inn, Cheever points out that “Mrs. Hartley and her daughter drank tomato juice, while Mr. Hartley had three Old-Fashioneds.” His perspective on the Hartleys is observation, as readers are piqued by any change in arrangement or mood. On the same night, “Mr. Hartley, for some reason, spoke sharply to his wife.” So, Mrs. Hartley rushes out to go to their room upstairs. Mr. Hartley makes arrangements to send her a tray upstairs. He and Anne both stay in the bar. For her solace, Anne befriends other children at the inn, even teaching them a game where she is given the chance to “imitate an adult.”
What opens as a very ordinary story about a family trying to get away, as families do, is quietly and methodically developing into the “crumbling facade” of a family struggling to keep their unit together. While the biographical information on Cheever definitely informs his work, he offers nothing obvious that would immediately shift your pattern of thought. In fact, like most Fifties literature we have discussed here (namely, Salinger and Bellow) the idea of that “crumbling facade” feels commonplace - not expected, though.
In a later work, that is far more autobiographical, 1973’s “The World of Apples,” Cheever makes the change in his story far more black and white. In “The World of Apples,” Cheever’s ongoing repetition of the author’s most successful book is a flashing light that resentment and self-immolation lie ahead. However, in the more idealized vision of life that is “The Hartleys,” we are bystanders who observe. There is no sympathy or empathetic occupation of any character. Yet, to his credit, Cheever does not push his characters around like pieces on a chess board.
His true gift is naturalism. Despite starting the stories on unfamiliar terms with him or his life, Cheever immediately provides enough of the surroundings and people to seem familiar. Still, Cheever is wise enough to write with such a deft hand that you can only follow along with “The Hartleys” whether they are skiing on the minuscule hill behind the Pemaquoddy or the hidden ski trails that surround them.
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Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.
New music this week
WIDESPREAD PANIC - Snake Oil King [JADE LP](Widespread/Thinkindie) • Not much changes within the music of Widespread Panic - not that you want it to. Theirs has always been a rough-hewn, almost post-Hippie Americana Bluesy backyard jam. "Snake Oil King" continues their affiliation with John Keane, who insures they sound as smooth as they do live. As a scant six songs, Widespread Panic packs them with revolving riffs and hypnotic parts ("Cosmic Confidante.") "Snake Oil King" may be the first Panic to look back on their career and all of those who passed through their ranks.
MOBY - Always Centered At Night [YELLOW LP](Mute) • After albums of Pop, Classical, and more diversions, "Always Centered At Night" returns to big beat Electronic music. Moby's messages have grown more focused over the years. The late Benjamin Zephanian lends weight to the many questions and repercussions asked on "Where Is Your Pride?" Lady Blackbird offers a soulful counterpoint to the "Play"-like groove that rides on a driving bass line. While Moby has never been one to relegate himself to the background seems to create a wide variety of spaces for the excellent group of singers he wants to feature.
HERMANOS GUTIERREZ - Sonidos Cosmicos [BLUE/GREEN LP](Easy Eye) • Hermanos Gutiérrez has grown substantially from the hypnotic guitar-based Desert Psychedelia of their underrated first album "El Bueno Y El Malo." The rhythms are more prevalent here as their adventures in Salsa and Cumbia can make a track like "Until We Meet Again" crackle like a campfire and still remind you of the wonder of how percussive a guitar can be. Draped in organs and other otherworldly details via "third brother" Dan Auerbach, works because it never loses the spiritual connection between the brothers.
CRUMB - AMAMA [GREEN LP] (Crumb/BWSCD) • New York hypnotic Indie Rockers Crumb have too long existed in the outer orbit of the continuously changing face of "popular" Indie/Alternative. Their first two albums only established a baseline for their dreamy textured writing. On "AMAMA" they ease away from the Psych formations for skittering almost-danceable EDM beats (played by their drummer and a drum machine.) "Side By Side" is an odyssey that punches through the tension with the brilliant release of its wordless chorus. While the backward-beat (think Radiohead) to fast Bossa Nova styles of the romantic "Crushxd" are quickly outmatched by squelchy guitar and a beautiful building keyboard arpeggio. Half of what makes Crumb work is their commitment to not trying to sound like anything trendy. On one hand, they could be digging into Canterbury-esque Prog, while the other juggles the once-overdone wisp of Beach House. Either way, it is tough not to move to the Dream Pop dance groove of the title cut - which after months still has not grown old.
LIZZY MCALPINE - Older [CLEAR LP](RCA) • In terms of the ongoing barrage of female singer/songwriter albums, McAlpine's third is possibly the best example of how one hopes a new TikTok-hit based signing can develop. Surprisingly, McAlpine shows real confidence in her writing ("Like It Tends To Do") and that is reflected in her ability to not let the battery of producers add to much to the proceedings. "Older" works best in its most intimate and telling terms ("Movie Star") even if sounds a little too close to those in the confessional division of singer/songwriters.
Reissues of the week
PAUL MCCARTNEY AND WINGS - One Hand Clapping [CD/LP/DLX] (MPL/Capitol) • At the height of their success, Paul McCartney and Wings were recorded playing at historic Abbey Road studios for a 1974 documentary. Having survived the tumult of "Band on The Run," Wings welcomed guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton. "One Hand Clapping" was meant to capture tour preparations, but McCartney was willing to lay down several songs that he had never recorded ("Suicide" was written for Frank Sinatra.) However, the best inclusion of this 50-year recording is McCartney and Wings revisiting a couple of Beatles classics.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - Born in The U.S.A. [RED LP](Columbia) • They say the best music results from moments of difficulty. Springsteen post-"Born To Run" was at a personal peak. The troubled "Darkness At The Edge of Town" was his most poetic and honest. The double-album masterpiece "The River" finally showed the width and breadth of his writing. The surprise release and hit "Nebraska" changed his perspective on writing yet again. Locked away like those solo sessions, Springsteen was ready to create music on his grandest scale yet. Fortunately, The E Street Band, his management and production team had been reloading not resting. Reentering the studio minus "Little" Steven Van Zandt (gone off on his solo career,) seems to inspire Springsteen from afar ("No Surrender" and "Bobby Jean.") As the Boss followed his muse from song-to-song, they racked up 50 tracks over nearly two years.
The winnowing process took a lot out of Springsteen. There were numerous versions deemed unfit for release. With a similar but broader scope production-wise than "The River," "Born In The U.S.A." needed to be about a unity of message. As Springsteen continued to labor over mixes and running order, it became obvious to longtime manager (and one-time MC5 producer) Jon Landau that there was no single. The two had a terrible argument about it that resulted in Springsteen storming out. Later that same night, out at Colt's Neck, another "Nebraska"-like bolt of lightning struck. The next day, Springsteen returned with "Dancing In The Dark" written from start to finish.
Now armed with the best eleven songs and a lead-off single that could not miss, they had their record. With Little Steven out on the road, Springsteen sent him the order. Van Zandt wrote back urging him to include "No Surrender" saying that it would be the perfect bridge between the past and present.
Upon its release forty years ago, "Born In The U.S.A." was a smash. The first new release produced for the Compact Disc format, "Born" broke a lot of records (30 million sold, in the Top 10 for 84 weeks) and rules. At a time when MTV promotion ruled the airwaves, they only made clips for five songs - yet managed to place seven tracks in the Top 10. Most importantly, it made Springsteen a superstar in the age of mega-albums.
