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Other titles in the Perennial Classics series:

  1. 3 Plays : Our Town / the Skin of Our Teeth / the Matchmaker (57 - Old Edition)
  2. A Jacques Barzun Reader: Selections from His Works
  3. A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present
  4. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (P.S.)
  5. Alas, Babylon
  6. Arthur Rimbaud: Complete Works
  7. Beowulf: An Updated Verse Translation
  8. Black Boy: American Hunger a Record of Childhood and Youth
  9. Brave New World
  10. Brave New World Revisited
  11. Cheaper by the Dozen
  12. Collected Novellas
  13. Collected Stories
  14. Coming of Age in Samoa
  15. Death Be Not Proud
  16. Demian
  17. Democracy in America
  18. Dynamics of Faith
  19. Essays of E. B. White
  20. Gallipoli
  21. Giant
  22. Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie
  23. Great Short Works of Edgar Allan Poe: Poems, Tales, Criticism
  24. Great Short Works of Herman Melville
  25. Great Short Works of Leo Tolstoy
  26. Growing Up in New Guinea
  27. House Made of Dawn
  28. Innocent Erendira: And Other Stories
  29. Island
  30. Leaf Storm: And Other Stories
  31. Love's Executioner: & Other Tales of Psychotherapy
  32. Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter
  33. Native Son
  34. Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View (Perennial Classic)
  35. Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View
  36. Old Yeller
  37. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
  38. Poetry, Language, Thought
  39. Profiles in Courage
  40. Red Sky at Morning
  41. Selected Poems 1947-1995
  42. So Big
  43. Sounder
  44. Tao Te Ching: A New English Version, with Forword and Notes
  45. The Art of Loving
  46. The Art of the Novel (Perennial Classic)
  47. The Autobiography of Mark Twain
  48. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
  49. The Bridge of San Luis Rey
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The Wapshot Chronicle

by John Cheever

The Wapshot Chronicle Cover

ISBN13: 9780060528874
ISBN10: 0060528877
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

Only 2 left in stock at $8.95!

Awards

Winner of the 1958 National Book Award for Fiction

Review-a-Day   (What is Review-a-Day?)

"The Wapshot Chronicle seems to me an enormously flawed and erratic book — the pacing is all wrong, there is zero in the way of plot, or even momentum, much of it is overwritten, a lot of the digressions are uninteresting, and few of the characters — certainly none of the women — are, in that favorite term of the leaden critic, 'sympathetic.' The Wapshot Chronicle is, however, sort of a great novel — or I guess I should say that I often thought it was great — but it's everything a great novel isn't supposed to be." Adrienne Miller, Salon.com (read the entire Salon.com review)

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

The Wapshot Chronicle Introduction

"The Wapshot Chronicle is the telling of the history and circumstances of the eclectic Wapshot family. The small, perhaps antiquated, New England river town of St. Botolphs is the home of the Waphot family: Honora, born on Oahu of missionary parents but raised by her paternal Uncle Lorenzo; Leander, an aging and gentle ferryboat operator and would-be suicide; his wife Sarah (Coverly) Wapshot, mother of Moses, the errant and mischievous elder brother to Coverly, the adoring and somewhat lambent brother. "The Wapshot Chronicle is an exploration of the clash between pious and bourgeois respectability, the slippery mores of a new and vigorously changing America and the inner drives of hearty, small-town New England stock.

Discussion Questions Describe the Wapshot family. What is it, beyond the tie of blood relation, that connects them? How attuned are they to each other's internal strife? Describe the family dynamic — why do Leander and Sarah allow themselves to continue to be bound to Honora? Is it only that she controls the family purse strings and their income? Is the wielding of this control a flaw of Honora's character? Is this the only element of control that Honora impresses upon them?
Even though it is Moses who is commanded to leave St. Botolphs, Coverly follows him. Why does Coverly also leave St. Botolphs? What do Moses and Coverly stand to gain by seeking futures outside of St. Botolphs and what do they actually accomplish? Do they cling to one another at the expense of their individuality — or does their separation release them and allow them to grow independently of one another?
Uncle Lorenzo, whom we never directly meet,travels to the South Pacific on a voyage of expiation with his wife, where, subsequently, Honora is born. How do Honora's standards of decency live up to the missionary precedent set by her parents? How does she diverge from those standards? What do the townspeople come to expect of Honora, what does she expect from herself, and how is this brought to bear on other Wapshots?
Leander keeps a journal in which he regularly writes rules by which a man should live. To what extent did Leander live by these rules? What did he gain in his specificity? To what extent did the other residents of St. Botolphs, including the Wapshots, organize their lives by rules? Did the mores of the town reflect the changing mores of the nation?
Purity and carnality are major themes in Cheever's works. Which of the characters abide by traditional sexual codes? How does their behavior reflect their attitudes about mid-20th-century America? Are the male characters more concerned with carnality than the female characters?
"The Wapshot Chronicle is a family saga that focuses on intergenerational differences. Think about the differences between the earlier, esteemed Wapshots, Thaddeus and Lorenzo, and a comparison of Honora, Leander, and Sarah's generation to that of Coverly and Moses. How does each generation come of age? Does St. Botolphs nurture them all in the same way?
The Wapshots traditionally place great importance on family lineage. Do you think this was a factor in the choice of brides for either Moses or Coverly? How do Melissa and Betsey compare to Sarah and Honora? How do they compare to their husbands?
The beginning of the novel is comparable to that of the Bible's Genesis. Whatplace, if any, does God occupy in the lives of the Waphsots? Why did John Cheever structure the novel in this way? What response from readers might he have been trying to evoke?
Did Honora apply her moral dictates to her own behavior? Who was Honora's fiercest judge? Does Honora see the new and emerging America as powerful and progress-minded? Does she harbor a patriotism for the nation that matches her love of St. Botolphs?
Many of Cheever's characters feel a compelling need for rebirth. The desire human beings have for a cleansing or baptism is universal and is evident in his characters. How do Leander and Sarah achieve this? To what extent is the Topaze a part of it? Are Cheever's women more desirous of inner rebirth than the men?

About the author

A writer for most of his life and best known for his short stories, John Cheever was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1912. He published his first short story at the age of 17 and, in 1979, was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for his collection of short stories, "The Stories of John Cheever. He was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1951, a Howells Medal Award (awarded by the National Academy of Arts and Letters for The Wapshot Scandal) in 1964, and winner of the 1978 American Book Award for "The Stories of John Cheever. His later novels include "Bullet Park (1969), "Falconer (1977), and "Oh What a Paradise It Seems (1982). "The Journals of John Cheever was published posthumously in 1991. He died in 1982, at the age of 70.

John Cheever is considered a master storyteller and one of America’ s most original writers. He is also deemed a virtuoso of characterization; the characters that people his works offiction, short stories, and novels alike are a unique blend of individual glory and eccentricity. He was insatiably fascinated with the dynamics of human relationships and the unique responses of ordinary individuals to the shifting, if otherwise commonplace, entanglements of life. "The Wapshot Chronicle and its sequel, published two years later, "The Wapshot Scandal, illustrate the breadth and scope of Cheever's vision, his interests, and his narrative style.

Review:

"[T]he best introduction to Cheever's work....Richly inventive and vividly told." New York Times Magazine

Review:

"[John Cheever is] a master American storyteller." Time

Review:

"There's a revolution of perception in The Wapshot Chronicle, a revolution of perfect observation and warm, acerbic, melancholy humanism." from the Foreword by Rick Moody, author of The Ice Storm

Review:

"Beautifully rewarding....A compelling book....Every page is a model of narrative virtuosity." Robert Penn Warren, author of All the King's Men

Review:

"[John Cheever's] gamey, witty, sad, and truthful novel is an admirable, splendid achievement." Jean Stafford

Synopsis:

When "The Wapshot Chronicle" winner of the 1958 National Book Award, was published in 1957, Cheever was already recognized as a writer of superb short stories. Based in part on Cheever's adolescence in New England, the novel follows the destinies of the wildly eccentric Wapshots of St. Botolphs, a quintessential Massachusetts fishing village.

Synopsis:

When The Wapshot Chronicle was published in 1957, John Cheever was already recognized as a writer of superb short stories.But The Wapshot Chronicle, which won the 1958 National Book Award, established him as a major novelist.

Based in part on Cheever's adolescence in New England, the novel follows the destinies of the impecunious and wildly eccentric Wapshots of St. Botolphs, a quintessential Massachusetts fishing village.Here are the stories of Captain Leander Wapshot, venerable sea dog and would-be suicide; of his licentious older son, Moses; and of Moses' adoring and errant younger brother, Coverly. Tragic and funny, ribald and splendidly picaresque, The Wapshot Chronicle is a family narrative in the tradition of Trollope, Dickens, and Henry James.

About the Author

John Cheever, is the author of seven collections of stories and five novels. In 1965 he received the Howells Medal for Fiction from the National Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 1978 The Stories of John Cheever won the National Book Critics Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Shortly before his death in 1982, he was awarded the National Medal for Literature from the Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780060528874
Foreword by:
Rick Moody
Publisher:
Harper Perennial
Author:
Cheever, John
Author:
by John Cheever
Location:
New York
Subject:
Classics
Subject:
Massachusetts
Subject:
Sagas
Subject:
Fishing villages
Subject:
Domestic fiction
Subject:
Autobiographical fiction
Subject:
General Fiction
Copyright:
Edition Description:
Paperback
Series:
Perennial Classics
Series Volume:
P-26
Publication Date:
June 3, 2003
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
368
Dimensions:
812x525x87 64

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