THE SWIMMER
THE SWIMMER JOHN CHEEVER GENRE : ALLEGORICAL FICTION FIRST PUBLISHED : 1964 “A masterpiece of mystery, language and sorrow. It starts out, on a perfect summer morning, as the record of a splendid exploit... and ends up as a kind of ghost story.” — Michael Chabon on The Swimmer Cheever, "the Chekhov of the suburbs", wrote this story when alcohol had started to take over him in his early fifties. A masterful blend of fantasy and reality, it chronicles a middle-aged man’s gradual acceptance of the truth that he has avoided facing—that his life is in ruins. The story immediately became an object of fascination in literary circles for its surprising blend of realism and surrealism and the emotional punch it delivers. Neddy Merrill "Ned", a man with the “vague and modest idea of himself as a legendary figure”, one day inexplicably decides to “swim home” via a trail of his neighbours’ pools. The people he interacts with on this bizarre odyssey include form...