“As he inflates his imagination, he inflates his capacity for anxiety, and inevitably becomes the victim of crushing phobias that can only be allayed by crushing doses of heroin or alcohol.”
More from John Cheever
“I’ve been homesick for countries I’ve never been, and longed to be where I couldn’t be.”
“We are told stories as children to help us bridge the abyss between waking and sleeping.…”
“He loved the world, and the world loved him.”
“Beginning in the fall, there was all this excitement about Christmas and how it was a day…”