The World of Apples (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Cheever
- First Published: 1964
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: The 1960's
- Setting: Italy
- Principal Characters: Asa Bascomb
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
- Subjects: Memory, Sex or sexuality, Art or artists, Poetry or poets, Nostalgia
- Locales: Italy
The Story
Asa Bascomb is an eighty-two-year-old American poet living in a villa near the Italian town of Monte Carbone. Except for the fact that he is an expatriate, he resembles the American poet Robert Frost in several ways: He is from Vermont, he has unruly white hair, and he has received many international honors, though not the Nobel Prize. The story opens with him swatting hornets in his study and wondering why this greatest of all literary honors has been denied him.
The only other person living in his villa is Maria, his maid. His wife Amelia has been dead for...
[The entire page is 1635 words long]
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