“When a friend tried to compliment him on [The Easter Parade]’s “consistent symbolism” […] Yates was almost aggressively dismissive—as he put it, the book was “autobiography” rather than “allegory”: “Emily Fucking Grimes is me,” he laughed.”

“Yates responded to this latest rejection by calling [Gordon Lish] on the phone and abusively accusing him of favoring only “name” writers; finally he threatened to “get on a plane and shoot [Lish].”

“While pondering suicide Cheever was his old jovial self among friends, though one day Ettlinger spotted him walking along First Avenue. About to say hello, he suddenly noticed the haunted look on Cheever’s face—”such a powerful expression of sadness”—that he quickly ducked behind a building until his friend had passed.”

(Source: 19841979)

“Many years later, after Cheever had stopped drinking, he often assuaged his melancholy by gorging on cheese and crackers […]”

(Source: 19841979)

“Essentially alone with his misery, Cheever began hoarding pills in the drawer of his bedside table, until one day he blurted out that he was “frightened” while lunching with Don Ettlinger: “I wake up at night and I’m calling out ‘Daddy, Daddy, help me,’ and I’ve never called anybody Daddy in my whole life.” He also told Ettlinger about the pills, which helped; afterward the thought of suicide began to seem “less important,” and he decided to see a psychiatrist.”

(Source: 19841979, via popserial)