Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Cheeve I I I v-AO By Lehman Stiles f i TTx StofWs of John Clmm Alfred A. ( Knopf. $15 00 C John Cheever's Pulitzer-Prize- f winning collection of short stories c is a mystery. c Cheever has scored successes t with such novels as Bullet Park t and Falconer, and his short stories c might be expected to be the traditional radical departure from c nis successiui sme. uesiseiiing v authors as a rule publish short r story or poetry collections to prove c that they are appropriately v literary. t But Cheever's storvwriting style c is relentlessly adherent to his novel e style ? a solid ambiguity, a stark, s violent imagery and a sense of o moral despair shaped by society. These stories are benchmarks t] for a literary age. Unflinchingly p realistic, they reflect the stern s realism of everyday life; the blood a of these stories runs cold and fast, l; They are touched only occasionally d with humor, in the way that it fi touches Shakespearean tragedy, e and they seem to demand a future n in which they can exist. This could tJ t>e a description of modern life. c John Cheever has shown in the past that he is one of those authors b cursed to constantly searching for c the underside of morality, and his t stories are no exception. In t "Christmas is a Sad Season for the t Poor," Charlie, an elevator-man in s a posh New York apartment house, a MM imiMi i I Some of the fun eve ? Beer can roll ? 70 yd. dash \ ! j ? 70 yd. empty 13 ? Th ree person ; J ? Feature even 1 BUDWEISER r's story co A- ! / ^erpiece ot inds himself inundated with gifts ind meals after he voices the romplaint of the title to residents >i uie Duiiaing, taDncating ap>ropriate lies about his life to Iramatize the plea. In the end, it omes out that "we are bound, one o another, in licentious >enevolence, for only a single . . . Cheever's view of morality is ihilling to say the least. Obsessed vith the servant-master class elationship, he embroils his haracters in dilemmas from khich their morals cannot save hem. Codes of existence clash as ?1 i- *1 - ciasn; mere seems 10 De no xit from a barren moral landcape when human relationships verpower moral sense. In The Stories of John Cheever. he author's greatest success is his erfect fusion o? style anci subtance. His lexicon and grammar re the quiet, matter-of-fact anguage of daily existence, nearly evoid of simile and metaphor, ind when the shattering xistential upheavals that end lost of the stories are related in his style, the effect is bonehilling: "In the stillness, the child Anne >egan to shriek. Her arm had got aught in the frayed rope; she had een thrown to the ground and was >eing dragged brutally up the hill oward the iron wheel . . . Her creams were hoarse and terrible, ind the more she stni00lp>H tn frtm ! Jhidw e i s er K ? T ? / E 1ST ANNUAL Gl FRIDAY, Id "E" (in front of Bate Sponsoi nts include: with your nose (20 yd /vith "6-pack" between keg relay (team even pyramid run t of the day an building contest (2-| HE FABULOUS \ HOT AIR BALLOC Ilection style herself from the rope, the mor violently it threw her to th ground. Space and the cold seeme to reduce the voices ? even th anguish in the voices ? of th people who were calling to stop th tow, but the girl's cries wer piercing until her neck was broke on the iron wheel." Cheever's style entices th icduci uy seiung mm aown in m middle of the action he i describing but placing a glass wal between observer and observed We become part of the actioi without affecting it; we recognizi ourselves as somehow belonging ii the midst of things while, all th< time, we are watching them. Cheever is a master at almos every facet of storytelling art. Ii "Characters that Will Not Ap pear," he presents a list ? num bered. even ? of annarpn ? - - ~rr? character sketches from som< cluttered notebook and turns then into as clear and insightful i picture of American life evei achieved in short form. Because the stories are arranget chronologically, the reader see; Cheever's development from < young writer intrigued by th< world around him to a mature author able to express that work effectively in fiction. Despite all this, there is < question as to whether the bool really deserves the Pulitzer William Wharton's Birdy and Johi \NNOUNCIN< ENERAL STUDIES I APRIL 27 (READI s House) Open to th< ed by Budweiser of ( $1,85000 ii given cbwi legs All procee t) College oi S|gn up in Person) Noon - 3;| >N Hg|>| d a iLMW jHBRl 1SR, Jf e BWf^P VBmmk ^P?*1 *W f c/IH t r ; Irving's The World According to i Garp both eclipse Cheever's > stories in terms of fictional art, i and given the Pulitzer's i predilection for well-known ? authors, the awaixl might have 1 been given a bit hastily. Unfortunately, Cheever's plots are often as bare as his style, and when i he relates the necessary details of c a story in this barren style, the final effect teeters on the edge of i boredom. \ s DECATHLON EVENT! ING DAY) s entire U.S.C. communis Columbia n Budweiser merchandis ay to individual and tear ds from refreshments go f General Studies Scholar person at Russell House 30 p.m. April 24, 25, 24 Sign up early First come, first sc r f I J i \j i II nui III U I 1 . But The Stories of John Cheever is a book deserving of being read; it brings a unique focus upon the way that morality interacts with daily life. Although the result is sometimes almost depressing, the overall atmosphere is essentially iragic. Uheever's characters personify the hauntings of fear that mere existence imposes upon us. His stories echo the constantly troubled but constantly exhilirating workings of humanity. w "HI S l e to be |lfi n event winners. 'H: I ship Fund. j i patio !.'? I ton call 777-2760 M mm* "