Glad Tidings: a Friendship in Letters the Correspondence of John Cheever and John D. Weaver, 1945-1982
by Weaver, John D.; Cheever, John
- Used
- near fine
- Paperback
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine
- ISBN 10
- 0060925558
- ISBN 13
- 9780060925550
- Seller
-
North Providence, Rhode Island, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
NY: Harper Collins. 1993 "We were both born in 1912, the year the Titanic sank and the Democrats regained the White House, and in mid-December 1943 we were both wearing ill-fitting Government Issue with sergeant's stripes when we met in one of the more exotic battle stations of World War II. The old Paramount studio in Astoria, Queens, swarmed with writers, actors, directors, cameramen, cartoonists, film editors and sound technicians working on training and orientation films for the Army Signal Corps". So begins the Introduction to Glad Tidings, a captivating self-portrait drawn by John Cheever in letters written to John and Harriett Weaver during the four decades he battled with alcohol, editors, publishers, landlords and bill collectors to feed, clothe and shelter his family. The Weavers' home in the Hollywood Hills, where Harriett "spun the grass and roses", was the sanctuary shielding him from the demons that dominated his journals. "I think you and Harriett and I share some sense of what love amounts to", Cheever wrote in 1924. "I remember standing on the terrace of your old house, by the Cinzano ashtray. The door was open and I heard Harriett flush a toilet and open and close a drawer. The sensation of my aloneness was stupendous. I am, as you both know, quite stupid and callow but I do try to catch myself. It's like chasing someone around a barn". Because these letters span the years between Cheever's first and last books, they offer a consistent and chronological view of his life as a writer: the impecunious early years of his marriage, his devotion to his growing family, his artistic setbacks and successes, his triumph over his addiction to alcohol and his impudent reports on the cancer that ended his life, but not before he had finished Falconer and won the Pulitzer Prize for his farewell collection of short stories. "If I can laugh, I can live", Cheever wrote in one of his last journal entries. Laughter was the mainstay of the enduring friendship recorded in Glad Tidings, a title he had chosen for a book he never got around to starting. Actually, he had already written it, dashing off a page or two at odd moments, a faithful dog at his feet, a drink within reach and some juicy new tidbit of his life's daily minutiae to pass along to John and Harriett. Dust soiling to page edges. 357pp bx9
Reviews
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- biblioboy (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 014358
- Title
- Glad Tidings: a Friendship in Letters the Correspondence of John Cheever and John D. Weaver, 1945-1982
- Author
- Weaver, John D.; Cheever, John
- Format/Binding
- Paperback
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First edition
- ISBN 10
- 0060925558
- ISBN 13
- 9780060925550
- Publisher
- Harper Collins
- Place of Publication
- NY
- Date Published
- 1993
- Pages
- 357
- Size
- 8vo
- Keywords
- literary biography correspondence letters john cheever john d. weaver
- Bookseller catalogs
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Literary;
Terms of Sale
biblioboy
Scans of any item on request.
Returns within14 days of receipt of the book for any reason. We do not refund postage, unless other arrangements have already been made. USA insurance is $1.75 for books with a value up to $50.00.
About the Seller
biblioboy
Biblio member since 2003
North Providence, Rhode Island
About biblioboy
We are biblioboybiblioboy dealers in Books, Stamps, Ephemera, Victorian Trade cards, Magazines, Postcards, Sheet Music, Engravings, and much more. I started out as a book collector and soon progressed to owning a book store with over 80,000 books and more than 10,000 pieces of ephemera, postcards, and other items. I exhibited my stock for years at book and paper shows around the eastern United States. As the book and paper business has changed over the years, I have changed the way I do business to evolve with the times. I now offer my items for sale on the web only, through my various listing services and web sites. Being a a collector, as well as a dealer, I understand the importance of condition, as well as rarity of an item, and the desire to own scarce and one of a kind items.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes: