Once upon a time the Wapshots of St. Botolphs were distinguished for their unshakeable good opinion of themselves. But the family members have drifted far from their New England village—and into the demented caprices of the mighty, the bad graces of the IRS and the humiliating abyss of adulterous passion. A novel of large and tender vision, “The Wapshot Scandal” is filled with pungent characters and outrageous twists of fate, and, above all, with Cheever’s luminous compassion for all his hapless fellow prisoners of human nature.
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Version 1.0
Epub ISBN 9781407072777
Published by Vintage 1998
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Copyright © John Cheever 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964
Foreword copyright © Dave Eggers 2003
John Cheever has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work
Six parts of this book appeared in
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
First published in Great Britain by Harper in 1964 First published by Vintage in 1998
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ISBN 9780099275282
To W.M.
John Cheever was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1912, and went to school at Thayer Academy in South Braintree. He is the author of seven collections of stories and five novels. His first novel,
All the characters in this work are fictional, as is much of the science.
I don’t know how certain books become canonical and others don’t. I know nothing about how these things work, what committees are formed, consulted, and what powers they wield, but I picture the process like a Pachinko. The book, playing the part of the silver lead ball – stay with me here – is sent through the top of the machine – the literary-cultural-academic machine – and it tinkles back and forth, subjected to popular and critical reaction, to revisionist theory, to changes in taste over a period of time, and eventually, if all goes well, it scores some points and stays in play. (I guess maybe I should have used a pinball metaphor. Your thoughts? Send them to 826 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110. Thank you in advance.)
For whatever reason, Cheever’s stories, which are not superior to this novel and its predecessor, are remembered better than the
