John Cheever, The Swimmer

Leon Lewis (Appalachian State University)

Ed. by Christopher Hugh Gair, University of Glasgow
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

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First circulation or publication Jul 1964

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United States (Country of Origin)

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Story

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American literature has been distinguished by short fiction from its inception. The folk-drawn tales of the Hudson Valley of Washington Irving, the probing of psychological interiority in Edgar Allan Poe’s stories, and the examination of Puritan origins in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “articles” identified and portrayed particular elements of an emerging nation. As each author sought to grasp and frame some aspect of a national experience, they tended to focus on a “place” that fascinated them. The range and scope of the massive American nation compelled this kind of concentration, an approach refined and extended notably by William Faulkner in the creation of the Yoknapatwapha county in Mississippi, and with stunning commercial success by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Tales of the Jazz…

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4184 words

Citation: Lewis, Leon. "The Swimmer". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 August 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35047, accessed 23 November 2024.]

John Cheever, The Swimmer

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