The Enormous Radio (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Cheever
- First Published: 1947
- Type of Work: Short story
- Genres: Short fiction, Domestic realism, Fantasy
- Subjects: Family or family life, Supernatural, Music or musicians, City life, Fantasy, Radio or radio broadcasting, Realism
- Locales: New York, NY
What distinguishes “The Enormous Radio” from the Hemingway-like stories of Cheever's first collection, The Way Some People Live, is the unsettling mixture of realism and fantasy that characterizes the best of his later work. “The Enormous Radio” concerns the Westcotts, who live in a Sutton Place (New York) apartment building and who resemble other young (mid-thirties), college-educated, upwardly mobile couples of the immediately postwar period in all respects but one—their special fondness for classical music.
When their old radio breaks down, Jim buys Irene a...
[The entire page is 515 words long]
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