An intense and captivating picture of an evolving creative mind is presented in The Journals of John Cheever. These journals have had a profound impact on me, suffocating my sense of self. Cheever's intimate and detailed entries offer the reader an almost crystal-clear view of his literary and life landscape. As I read Robert Gottlieb's 'Editor's Note', I discovered that in the process of publication, with Cheever having written approximately 4 million words, we are only getting a small sample of his life. There is not much that can be said about the content that was left out in juxtaposition to what remained, except to note that the writer revealed to me was incredibly sensitive and attuned to his self to the point of masochism.

I cannot claim to have enjoyed reading this great collection in the traditional sense. However, it was undeniably a reading journey worth embarking on. At times, I was exhausted by the banality of his thoughts, yet it was precisely these words that compelled me to continue. I read it over the course of four long sittings, as the journal was a fascinating and beautifully expressed celebration of the love of life. Cheever does not explicitly articulate the process and outcome of his work, but through his often troubled and secretive thoughts, one can gain an idea of the process by proxy.

I have not completed Cheever's entire body of work, but I have read enough to make me eager to know both the writer and the man. What I actually received was a glimpse into the life of a husband, father, lover, and homosexual. The last sentence on page 347, "...I am gay. I am gay, I am at last free of all this. This did not last long," captures the essence of a significant portion of his entries. Cheever, as far as I could tell from what I read, clearly enjoyed sex with women, and his male lovers were equally important to him. However, he was constantly attempting to reconcile his feelings and faith, never once using the term bisexual.

Cheever was a loving and sexually driven husband, although the love was not reciprocated by Mary in the same vigorous manner in which he expressed it to her. She, of course, loved him, and throughout the journal, Cheever's thoughts and proclamations about how he had to beg Mary for sex are prominent. According to Cheever, she managed to resist his advances throughout their entire marriage. He had affairs with both men and women, yet he loved his wife and desired her until the day he died. Their marriage came close to divorce on multiple occasions, but it never actually happened. John Cheever's narrative on growing older, illness, and his reflections on time provide the reader with an extremely vivid picture of the ageing process. I will leave it to you to decide the messages that can be gleaned from his work.

Whether reading Cheever's short stories or his novels, such as Falconer, a lovely and deeply moving narrative of prison life and the love between prisoners, or The Stories of John Cheever, a fantastic page-turning collection that is well worth your time, one can see how the writer and the man merge. His experiences, distorted by fiction, are a great companion to his journal.

Solo un grande scrittore può scrivere "non c'è niente di più meraviglioso del treno del lunedì alle 8:22" e convincerti che è vero. It's truly remarkable how such a simple sentence can hold so much charm and truth when penned by a master wordsmith. But just like every diary, this one too has its diverse pages.

Some of the pages are breathtakingly beautiful, filled with intense emotions and poetic expressions. They transport you to a world of wonder and make you feel every word deeply. Others are mere annotations, almost like short stories that give a glimpse into the writer's life. And then there are those pages that are obsessive, perhaps a little too much so. They show the writer's fixation on certain thoughts or events, which can be both fascinating and overwhelming at times.

Overall, I didn't appreciate it in its entirety. There were moments when I felt like I was peeking through the keyhole, reading the writer's thoughts before they were fully formulated and expressed. It was an intimate and sometimes uncomfortable experience, but it also made me realize the power of words and the complexity of the human mind.

Cheever & Chirbes.

Qué sufrimiento vital.

Is it only possible to obtain beauty from anguish, repentance, and depression? This question lingers in the air as we consider the works of Cheever and Chirbes. Their writings seem to suggest that within the depths of human pain and turmoil lies a certain kind of beauty that is often overlooked.

Perhaps it is in the moments of greatest despair that we are able to see the true essence of things. The beauty that emerges from such experiences may not be the traditional kind, but rather a more profound and meaningful one.

As we explore the works of these two authors, we are invited to look beyond the surface and discover the hidden beauty that lies within the darkness. It is a journey that may be uncomfortable at times, but one that ultimately leads to a greater understanding of the human condition and the power of art to transform our lives.

Cheever's journals offer a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a great writer. The excerpts from his journals, available at https://manishmohandas.com/2024/01/22..., provide valuable insights into his creative process, his thoughts on life, and his observations of the world around him.

Reading these excerpts, one can see the evolution of Cheever's writing style and his development as a writer. His entries are often vivid and detailed, painting a picture of his experiences and emotions. He writes about his struggles with writer's block, his joy in creating new characters and stories, and his love for the written word.

The journals also offer a window into Cheever's personal life. He writes about his family, his friends, and his relationships, providing a rare and intimate look at the man behind the books. Whether he is reflecting on a happy moment or dealing with a difficult situation, his writing is always honest and heartfelt.

Overall, the excerpts from Cheever's journals are a must-read for anyone interested in literature, writing, or the life of a great writer. They offer a unique and valuable perspective on one of the most important figures in American literature.

I had initially started working on a previous copy of something, but unfortunately, it was completely destroyed by a spilled cup of coffee. It was quite a setback. However, I'm really glad that I was able to find this free copy.

As I've been going through it, I've discovered something interesting. I find that I enjoy reading the biographies of authors almost more than their actual work. There's just something about learning about the lives and experiences that shaped them as writers that really fascinates me. It gives me a deeper understanding and appreciation for their work.

Maybe it's because knowing the author's background helps me to better interpret the themes and messages in their writing. Or perhaps it's just the human element that draws me in. Either way, I'm looking forward to delving deeper into this new copy and learning more about the authors and their stories.

This is truly such a remarkable collection.

I was overjoyed to discover that this was authorized by Cheever before his passing.

This represents a significant departure from his earlier stance.

It seems that in the later stages of his life, Cheever had a change of heart and decided to give his approval to this particular collection.

Perhaps he recognized the value and importance of these works being presented in a unified and authorized manner.

Whatever the reason, this authorization adds an extra layer of authenticity and credibility to the collection.

It allows readers to explore and appreciate Cheever's body of work with the knowledge that it has been sanctioned by the author himself.

Overall, this is a wonderful development for fans of Cheever and for the literary world as a whole.

John Cheever had a remarkable writing routine. He wrote in his journal consistently for over forty years.

His journals, which were first published eight years after his death, at the beginning of the nineties, contain only a fraction of the millions of words he penned.

The journals span four hundred pages and offer a profound look into the soul of an incredibly gifted and tormented writer. His talent was innate; there isn't a single bad sentence in the entire book. Writing was his calling, and throughout his life, it flowed out of him, even when he wasn't writing fiction. He openly discusses his marriage, his unfulfilled sexual longings, and his battles with alcohol. His honesty and vulnerability are deeply moving, and the scenes from his own life are as skillfully crafted as any of his finest stories.

However, since the entries lack context, I found that reading his biography beforehand was extremely helpful in understanding his journals. Nevertheless, for the sheer joy of reading impeccably written sentences, they can be enjoyed without any background information as well.

Cheever apparently began his writing day in a rather interesting way. He would fill a page of foolscap, and the outcome of this daily routine was these remarkable "journals."

One could truly do much worse than follow in his footsteps and start their own writing (or reading) day with an entry from this incredibly deep, rich, and fascinating collection of fragments.

These journals offer a unique glimpse into Cheever's mind and creative process. They are a treasure trove of thoughts, ideas, and observations that can inspire and engage readers on many levels.

Whether you are a writer looking for inspiration or simply someone who enjoys delving into the minds of great thinkers, Cheever's "journals" are well worth exploring. So, pick up a copy, start your day with a page from this collection, and let the words transport you to a world of creativity and imagination.

Buf. What an experience. It is a book that introduces us to Cheever and the passions, ideas, and frustrations that would be part of all his works.

Through these diaries, we discover an abominable figure: the typical famous writer of the 20th century with alcohol problems, tortuous relationships, repressed emotions and desires, and untreated traumas combined with a narcissistic personality.

But how lucky we are to enjoy the final result of the great work that the production and compilation of these diaries have entailed.

The passages have extraordinary literary and reflective weight. We see a man with more shadows than lights as we witness the development of his actions and the consequences they had throughout the writer's life.

The love-hate relationship with his wife and children (except Federico, the youngest of the three, whom he loved unconditionally), the past with his own parents and brother, the repressed homosexuality (in the emotional aspect), alcoholism, the obsession with money, and the constant aspiration to be part of the upper class are some of those themes that regularly emerge and in which we see that frustrated American dream of the middle class that he so well portrayed in his stories and works.

Just like his own existence, this work is something brutal and heartbreaking.

I first delved into the journals approximately 20 years ago, during the early days of my being a die-hard Cheever enthusiast. I had instantly fallen head over heels in love with him the moment I read "Farewell, My Brother" in his hefty, red-covered compilation of short stories. From then on, I embarked on a journey to read everything he had ever penned: stories, novels, letters. I used to jest that I would even read his grocery lists if they were made public.

When I initially read the journals, I was profoundly impressed by the masterful and concise style. I was so influenced that I even attempted to adopt it in my own journals. For all these years, it has remained on my list of books to preserve forever.

However, upon a recent rereading, I find that I can now let it go. Apart from the smoothness of its style, it doesn't seem significantly different to me from the daily concerns and persistent issues of any other person. He chronicles his feelings, events, disappointments. He loves his children but has regrets when he is harsh with them. He laboriously works and reworks his writings.

What struck me most this time around is how often he comments on the state of his penis (referred to as "cod") and whether or not he has "had his way" with his wife Mary. Although he is such a virtuoso at expressing tenderness and joy in his stories, it appears that there wasn't an abundance of it in his family life (unless it was edited out of this collection of journal entries?).

So, in reality, I only need to arrive at these melancholy conclusions once. I am removing this book from my special shelf.

And as for the Cheever grocery list, I believe I can now write it for myself: Gin. Gin. Gin.

Despite all that has been said about the journals, I still highly recommend the short story collection, especially "Farewell, My Brother" and "The Lowboy." Those two stories completely captivate me, and I still hold a deep regard for the man who wrote them, regardless of his personal shortcomings.

There really ought to be a button on Good Reads specifically for the option of "perused" or "read some of it." That's precisely what I did in this particular case. However, what the heck. I'm just going to go ahead and say that I read it. After all, even if I didn't read every single word from cover to cover, I still engaged with the material to some extent. It seems only fair that there should be a way to accurately represent this kind of reading experience on the platform. Maybe other readers have had the same thought. It would make it so much easier to keep track of our reading habits and share more detailed information with others.

A hard book, in which Cheever strips himself bare without any concessions.

It is a book full of failures and pain, and for this reason, it is so human and so true.

Cheever, with his writing ability, pushes the reader to love their own abyss, regardless of how much this abyss pushes them towards the pit.

This book is not an easy read. It forces the reader to confront the darker aspects of human nature. But it is precisely in these moments of discomfort that we are able to see ourselves more clearly.

Cheever's writing is both beautiful and brutal. He does not shy away from depicting the harsh realities of life, but he does so with a sense of compassion and understanding.

Overall, this is a book that will stay with you long after you have finished reading it. It is a powerful exploration of the human condition and a testament to the power of literature to illuminate our lives.