Benjamin Cheever

Benjamin Hale Cheever (born October 8, 1948) is an American writer and editor. He is the son of writer John Cheever and brother of Susan Cheever. To date, he has written four adult fiction novels, one children's book and two nonfiction books. [1]

Works of Fiction

• The Plagiarist (Simon & Schuster Adult, 1992)

Synopsis Arthur Prentice is the only child of author Icarus Prentice, a famous novelist. He's in a bad marriage and his son's unhappy. Arthur leaves his local job at a newspaper and joins the staff of The American Reader, a "reprint magazine" where the management tries to get Icarus to write for the magazine, but Iracus thinks the magazine is a joke. [2]

• The Partisan (Simon & Schuster Adult, 1994)

Was picked as Editor's Choice of the New York Times Best Books in its year.[3]

Synopsis Nelson is a young film student at New York University. In his life are his 'aunt and uncle,' Jonas Collingwood, author of eighteen century spectaculary gloomy novels, and his sister Nar (Narcissus). Nelson and his family live a cloistered life in the suburbs where Nelson dreams of owning his own car, uncle Jonas writing his novels, his aunt burning dinners, and Nar charming men and dreaming of owning a horse. [4]

• Famous After Death (Bloomsbury USA, 2000)

Synopsis In 1984, Noel Hammersmith, a chubby thirty-something year old gets dumped by his girlfriend. His dream is to be tall, skinny, and famous. He wants to be famous to the point where he thinks he might have to kill someone.[5]

• The Good Nanny (Bloomsbury USA, 2004)

Synopsis Stuart Cross, an editor at a small publishing house and his wife Andie Wilde, a top film critic for the New York Post just bought a new house in the suburbs. They decide to Louise, a Nanny, also known as “Miss Washington” and “Sugar” to the children. Louise is a natural with the children. Nine-year-old Ginny and six-year-old Jane think of Louise as the ideal nanny, but Andie feels differently. Andie feels paranoid about Louise’s activities such as her enjoyment of reading Hilaire Belloc, being an accomplished painter and having a best friend who is a nice guy but has a prison history. While Andie feels displaced, Stuart suffers a professional blow and becomes annoyed when he learns about the Museum of Modern Art‘s interest in Louie's paintings. [6]

• The First Dog (2009)

Synopsis The story is about Adam and Eve's dog who is the first dog to be known to humankind. Tim Grajek is the illustrator.[7]

Works of Nonfiction

• Selling Ben Cheever: Back to Square One in a Service Economy (Bloomsbury USA, 2002)

Synopsis Benjamin Cheever refers to himself as Ben and writes about the economic struggles of 1995 in the US. He wrote this book after he couldn't sell his latest work of fiction and started to think about other jobs he could have had.

[8]

• Strides: Running Through History With an Unlikely Athlete (Rodale Books; 1st edition, 2007)

Synopsis Cheever discovered running at the age of 28 during 1977 while working at the Reader's Digest. During this time, Cheever was going through an unhappy marriage and became involved with marathon running as a result. The book also covers past history of the sport.

[9]

Works Edited

• The Letters of John Cheever (Simon & Schuster Adult, 2009) Synopsis John Cheever, father of Benjamin Cheever, was a novelist, short-story and winner of a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. John Cheever wrote letters to famous writers, family, friends, and lovers. He wrote about thirty letters a week which turned out to be thousands. These letters show John Cheever's development as a writer and a man.

[10]

• Reader's Digest

[11]

Other Jobs

• Reporter for The New York Times, The Nation, and The New Yorker
• Taught at Bennington College and The New School for Social Research
• Writer for the Reader's Digest and The Nation
• Host of TV show "About Writing" where Cheever interviewed different writers. "About Writing" aired 50 episodes on http://www.PCTV76.org
• Currently a book critic for The New York Times

[12]

Personal life

Benjamin lives in Pleasantville, New York, with his wife, the New York Times critic Janet Maslin. The couple has two sons and two dogs. [13]

References

• Ben Cheever's Official Site
• About Selling Ben Cheever: Back to Square One in a Service Economy
• Strides: Running Through History With an Unlikely Athlete
• Good Nanny Ebay
• Barnes and Noble The Plagiarist Benjamin Cheever
• The Plagarist, a Novel
• Random House Inc. Benjamin Cheever

External links

• Essay by Ben Cheever