Trad Authors: Cheever and Updike

I’ve read each of them. They both concern me but in different ways. Updike because I’m not smart enough to read and “get” him like I know others do. I’m taken by what one friend calls Updike’s ability to “notice and remember” but I’m humbled by the fact that it takes me twenty minutes to read properly one Updike page. 

When it comes to non-fiction/autobiographical posits of Updike I think everyone should read his chapter on living all of his adult life with psoriasis. Cheever is a tough one for me too-mostly because my father was a worse drunk than him. And if you’ve read any biographical information on Cheever you know that he was slugging gin by the gulp before noon. Both were loyal to The New Yorker. Loyal beyond good judgement.

One possessed Ivy credentials and humbly leveraged such as a reviewer and critic. The other constantly campaigned compensatory affectations to accommodate his lack of any finished degree. They were competitive while holding each other in high esteem. Both stand as evidence that while formal education is a nice to have; artists are imbued with gifts from God.

If you haven’t watched the Dick Cavett interview with Cheever and Updike, do yourself the favor. Where the hell are the Dick Cavetts of the world now?

Cheever wore this tie on the Dick Cavett show. His family buried him in it as well. The OCBD is poly-cotton blend. I'm sure Cheever was too tight to send shirts out to the laundry.

Updike in the L.L. Bean perennial favorite Camp Moc. My money says that his were made in the USA though. Remember?

Cheever with daughter Susan. Big a_s o-ring trad belt. The Seventies...Cheever's belt scale here personifies why this was the ugliest sartorial decade.

Cheever with a dog. Probably a J. Press Shaggy Dog crew neck sweater. On the way to Gotham? Perhaps to collect a check from the New Yorker office? Where by the way, they paid him about 30% of what he could have realized in compensation from other publications. Loyalty beyond good judgement.

Updike in trad plaid and ... what is that tennis shirt brand? Was it called Boast? If so, the dichotomy is manifest given the man upon whom the shirt sits.

Crew necks and cigs...both men were known for them. 

I don't think there's one bit of affectation here. Quintessential Updike.

Cheever on the way to Gotham? A rendezvous with Hope Lange? Sadly, Cheever was such a drunk during the Hope Lange phase that one doubts his ability to really manifest physically too much consummate passion. He was prouder of the conquest than she.

Updike...Trad Yankee to the end.

Onward. And better for it-having struggled with these men and their words. 

ADG