The Swimmer at the Wikipedia
Analysis, summary, characters, themes... click here
More analysis: click here
Another study guide (clear and to the point): click here
The Swimmer audiobook (from minute 3.31 on)
The Swimmer (film) at the Wikipedia
The Swimmer (trailer)
Presentation, by Begoña Devis
Biography
John
Cheever was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1912. His father was the owner of
a shoe factory, which went bankrupt with the crash of 29, and the family fell
into relative poverty. After this fact, the father left the family, and the
young Cheever lived for a time in Boston with his brother. During that period
he survived by publishing articles and stories in various media.
He was expelled from the academy for smoking, which ended his education and this was the core of his first short story, Expelled, which Malcom Cowley bought for the New Republican newspaper. From that moment, Cheever devoted himself entirely to writing short stories that progressively found space in several magazines and newspapers, and finally in the famous magazine The New Yorker, with which he maintained, until the end of these days, an intense relationship.
He was called the Chekhov of the suburbs, because many of his stories occurred in the middle class neighbourhoods that were born around New York during the recovery of the economy after the Second World War.
In 1957 he won The National Book Award for his first novel, and in 1971 he won the Pulitzer Prize for his compilation of stories. He wrote primarily about the decline of the American dream, alcoholism and homosexuality, and sometimes his characters had dubious moral.
A movie was made from his short story The Swimmer in 1957, played by Burt Lancaster. At the time it was unsuccessful, but now it is considered a cult film by cinephiles.
John Cheever died in New York in 1982 at the age of 70.
He was expelled from the academy for smoking, which ended his education and this was the core of his first short story, Expelled, which Malcom Cowley bought for the New Republican newspaper. From that moment, Cheever devoted himself entirely to writing short stories that progressively found space in several magazines and newspapers, and finally in the famous magazine The New Yorker, with which he maintained, until the end of these days, an intense relationship.
He was called the Chekhov of the suburbs, because many of his stories occurred in the middle class neighbourhoods that were born around New York during the recovery of the economy after the Second World War.
In 1957 he won The National Book Award for his first novel, and in 1971 he won the Pulitzer Prize for his compilation of stories. He wrote primarily about the decline of the American dream, alcoholism and homosexuality, and sometimes his characters had dubious moral.
A movie was made from his short story The Swimmer in 1957, played by Burt Lancaster. At the time it was unsuccessful, but now it is considered a cult film by cinephiles.
John Cheever died in New York in 1982 at the age of 70.
The Swimmer
The Swimmer is a short story by John Cheever about a relatively young
and handsome man who decides to go back to his home, 8 miles from where he is
at the moment, swimming. For this he plans a tour along the pools of his
various friends and neighbours, a route that he will call “Lucinda River” in honour
to his wife. This wild idea will take him on a personal journey with surreal overtones.
As the journey progresses, the character’s disorientation, his temporary
alterations and the doubtfulness of his feat are revealed. At first his neighbours
are friendly and accommodating, but there comes a time when everything gets
worse, being forced to cross a public swimming pool, later when a neighbour
accuses him of being an intruder and in
the last pool he sees how an old lover looks at him with disdain, and she doesn’t
even offer him a drink. When he finally gets home, we do not know if a day, a
month or a year, later, he finds it closed and empty
In my opinion, it is a metaphorical journey, in which the protagonist wants to return home but cannot find the way to do so. Alcoholism is always present, and the sinking in it (and not in the pools) is what increasingly disorients him and prevents him from getting where he would like. A journey on a magnificent sunny day, in which an attractive young man is about to do something heroic, but instead he finishes as a defeated man who has lost his home, family and even his memories.
In my opinion, it is a metaphorical journey, in which the protagonist wants to return home but cannot find the way to do so. Alcoholism is always present, and the sinking in it (and not in the pools) is what increasingly disorients him and prevents him from getting where he would like. A journey on a magnificent sunny day, in which an attractive young man is about to do something heroic, but instead he finishes as a defeated man who has lost his home, family and even his memories.
It
is a dark and desperate story, but of great narrative force and with a
dreamlike and surreal component that makes it especially attractive.
QUESTIONS
Characters:
Neddy MerrillMrs GrahamEnid BunkerGrace BiswagnerShirley AdamsMr and Mrs HalloranHelen and Eric Sachs
Places:
At Westerhazy’sAt Levys’s gardenAt Lindleys’sAt Welchers’sAt the Recreation CenterAt home
Can
you point out the hints the narrator give us along the story about the decline
and fall of the hero?
What social class do the characters belong to?
What do they drink?
What is the National Audubon Society?
Can you find parallels between this story and the Odyssey or a Pilgrimage?
What season is the story situated in?
What is a point of no return? And what is the point of no return in the story?
Greetings: he kisses women and shakes hands to men. What do you think of this kind of greetings, one for men and another for women?
Where do you prefer to swim: swimming pools, the sea, rivers, reservoirs?
What social class do the characters belong to?
What do they drink?
What is the National Audubon Society?
Can you find parallels between this story and the Odyssey or a Pilgrimage?
What season is the story situated in?
What is a point of no return? And what is the point of no return in the story?
Greetings: he kisses women and shakes hands to men. What do you think of this kind of greetings, one for men and another for women?
Where do you prefer to swim: swimming pools, the sea, rivers, reservoirs?
VOCABULARY
golf
link, artesian well, cumulus cloud, dogleg, hurl, choppy, saddle, hoist,
portage, bony, de Haviland trainer, spigot, cordite, put sb out to board, tool
(v), bask, roughhouse, cerulean
