Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Semester of Degree Completion

1984

Thesis Director

John Guzlowski

Abstract

The problem of time is a central concern in John Cheever's short story collection The Housebreaker of Shady Hill. The characters in these stories--upper-middle class suburbanites--live in a sometimes chaotic and disconnected world in which they find it difficult to attain some sense of continuity in their relationships with time. In trying to come to grips with their time and space, many of Cheever's characters express an immoderate devotion to their past, present, or future and neglect to see the bits and pieces of their experiences as interrelated. The characters who are happy and whole in these stories, however, feel the tension between the outer world (and its clock time) and their inner sense of duration, meet the conflict head-on, and attain a sense of balance which will allow them to grow psychologically. In this thesis I explore how the protagonist in each of these stories either thrives or suffers--with himself and within the town of Shady Hill--as a result of his understanding of his temporality.

To provide a critical framework for this study I initially discuss (in Part I) some of the philosophical and literary approaches toward the problem of time, paying particularly close attention to the work of Henri Bergson. Bergson's notion of pure duration--emphasizing the pervasiveness of memory on a human consciousness that is forever "becoming" and changing--was highly influential in the development of a subjective approach toward time. Bergson's philosophy had a great impact upon the works of Proust, Joyce and Faulkner, and has a great deal of relevance to a discussion of Cheever's work.

After this introductory section, my work is divided into three parts devoted to an analysis of Cheever's stories themselves, keeping close in mind the philosophical approach of Bergson. In Part II I discuss how the town of Shady Hill (where each of the stories is set) acts as a "character" whose steadfast linearity (adherence to clock time) seems to have a great effect on the lives of the protagonists. In Part III I examine in each story the conflict which exists between the protagonists (and their notions of inner time) and Shady Hill. Finally, I comment on how Cheever's subjective approach to time has had an influence on his storytelling technique.

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