The deep joy we take in the company of people with whom we have just recently fallen in love is undisguisable.
John CheeverRead
What I am going to write is the last of what I have to say. I will say that literature is the only consciousness we possess and that its role as consciousness must inform us of our ability to comprehend the hideous danger of nuclear power.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Cheever emphasizes the importance of literature in shaping our understanding of the world and the dangers we face, particularly regarding nuclear power.
In this quote, John Cheever articulates the idea that literature serves as a fundamental aspect of human consciousness, enabling us to grasp complex and frightening realities, such as the threat posed by nuclear power. He suggests that through literature, we can gain insights into our own existence and the moral and ethical dilemmas that arise in contemporary society, urging us to be critically aware of the implications of technological advancement.
Themes
LiteratureConsciousnessNuclear PowerDangerComprehension
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on the significance of literature in education, one might cite Cheever's quote to underscore the power of storytelling in shaping societal awareness.
More from John Cheever
All quotes βFor me a page of good prose is where one hears the rain. A page of good prose is when one hears the noise of battle.... A page of good prose seems to me the most serious dialogue that well-informed and intelligent men and women carry on today in their endeavor to make sure that the fires of this planet burn peaceably.
John CheeverRead
For me, a page of good prose is where one hears the rain and the noise of battle. It has the power to give grief or universality that lends it a youthful beauty.
John CheeverRead
The world that was not mine yesterday now lies spread out at my feet, a splendor. I seem, in the middle of the night, to have returned to the world of apples, the orchards of Heaven. Perhaps I should take my problems to a shrink, or perhaps I should enjoy the apples that I have, streaked with color like the evening sky.
John CheeverRead
Art is the triumph over chaos.
John CheeverRead
The short story is the literature of the nomad.
John CheeverRead
Similar quotes
My experience is that prose usually equals duty - last minute, overdue-deadline stuff or a panic lecture to be written.
Seamus HeaneyRead
What I can say is that it was clear to many of us that an indigenous African literary renaissance was overdue. A major objective was to challenge stereotypes, myths, and the image of ourselves and our continent, and to recast them through stories- prose, poetry, essays, and books for our children. That was my overall goal.
Chinua AchebeRead
Novels institutionalize the ruse of eros. It becomes a narrative texture of sustained incongruence, emotional and cognitive. It permits the reader to stand in triangular relation to the characters in the story and reach into the text after the objects of their desire, sharing their longing but also detached from it, seeing their view of reality but also its mistakenness. It is almost like being in love.
Anne CarsonRead
The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book.
Mickey SpillaneRead
When a novel has 200,000 words, then it is possible for the reader to experience 200,000 delights, and to turn back to the first page of the book and experience them all over again, perhaps more intensely.
Jane SmileyRead
I've been writing long enough to know that fiction, as a rhetorical mode, works very differently from expository writing. If an author has a specific critique about contemporary society in mind, fiction tends not to be the best means to deliver that critique.
Ken LiuRead