The World of Apples is the sixth collection of short fiction by author John Cheever, published in 1973 by Alfred A. Knopf. The ten stories originally appeared individually in The New Yorker, Esquire, The Saturday Evening Post or Playboy.Bailey, 2009 (2) p. 467Bailey, 2009 (1) p. 1026O'Hara, 1989 p. 151Meanor, 1995 p. 44: "The World of Apples…his sixth short story collection."
The publication of The World of Apples coincided with Cheever's nomination to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.Meanor, 1995 p.xix, p. 24: Cheever "nominated for membership to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters."
Stories The original date of publication and name of the journal appear in parentheses.:Bailey, 2009 p. 1026-1027 "The Chimera" (The New Yorker, July 4, 1961) "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin" (The New Yorker, April 27, 1963) "Montraldo" (The New Yorker, June 6, 1964) "The Geometry of Love" (Saturday Evening Post, January 1, 1966) "The World of Apples" (Esquire, December 1966) "Percy" (The New Yorker, September 21, 1968) "The Fourth Alarm" (Esquire, April 1970) "Artemis, the Honest Well-Digger" (Playboy, January 1972) "The Jewels of the Cabots" (Playboy, May 1972) "Three Stories" [as "Triad"] (Playboy, January 1973)
Reception
The World of Apples received outstanding reviews upon its release, and according to biographer Blake Bailey "some of the best reviews of Cheever's career."Bailey, 2009 (2) p. 467-468: "The World of Apples received some of the best reviews Cheever's career…"Meanor, 1995 p. 24: "...the positive critical reception given…The World of Apples..."
Literary critic Lynne Waldeland reports that Larry Woiwode of the New York Times Book Review praised the volume as "an extraordinary book, a transfiguring experience for the reader, and Cheever at his best…"Waldeland, 1979 p. 117:
Biographer Scott Donaldson offers this measured assessment of the collection:
Footnotes
Sources Bailey, Blake. 2009 (1). Notes on Text in John Cheever: Collected Stories and Other Writing. The Library of America. Pp. 1025-1028 Bailey, Blake. 2009 (2). Cheever: A Life. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 770 pp. Donaldson, Scott. 1988. John Cheever: A Biography. Random House, New York. Meanor, Patrick. 1995. John Cheever Revisited. Twayne Publishers, New York. O'Hara, James E. 1989. John Cheever: A Study of the Short Fiction. Twayne Publishers, Boston Massachusetts. Twayne Studies in Short Fiction no 9. Waldeland, Lynne. 1979. John Cheever. Twayne Publishers, G. K. Hall & Company, Boston, Massachusetts.