Biography of John Cheever -- Plot summary of Goodbye my brother -- List of characters in Goodbye my brother -- Critical views of Goodbye my brother -- John Cheever on the genesis of the story -- James E. O'Hara on moral complexity -- Patrick meanor on biblical and Puritan references -- Scott Donaldson on the author's attitude towards brotherhood -- Plot summary of The enormous radio -- List of characters in The enormous radio -- Critical views of The enormous radio -- Burton Kendle on the author's Reinterpretation of Eden -- Henrietta Ten Harmsel on parallels to Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown -- James E. O'Hara on the confluence of reality and fable -- Patrick Meanor on the author's stylistic breakthrough -- Plot summary of The five-forty-eight -- List of characters in The five-forty-eight -- Critical views of The five-forty-eight -- Lynne Waldeland on the story's inappropriateness vis-à-vis The Shady Hill stories -- George W. Hunt on the relationship between villainy and forgetfulness -- Raymond Carver's sequel to the story -- Mark A. C. Facknitz On Carver's unhappy conclusion -- Patrick Meanor on sadism -- Plot summary of The country husband -- List of characters in The country husband -- Critical views of The country husband -- Alfred Kazin on the author's radiance -- Robert A. Hipkiss on references to war -- Lawrence Jay Dessner on tension and irony -- Plot summary of The swimmer -- List of characters in The swimmer -- Critical views of The swimmer -- Michael D. Byrne on the symbolic significance of nomenclature -- William Rodney Allen on parallels to F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby -- Hal Blythe and Charlie Sweet on references to Ponce de Leon -- Nathan Cervo on allusions to death and the underworld -- Works by John Cheever -- Works about John Cheever -- Acknowledgments -- Index of themes and ideas.