Alan Stuart Cheuse (January 23, 1940 – July 31, 2015) was an American writer, editor, professor of literature, and radio commentator. A longtime NPR book commentator, he was also the author of five novels, five collections of short stories and novellas, a memoir and a collection of travel essays. In addition, Cheuse was a regular contributor to

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

. His short fiction appeared in respected publications like ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

'', ''

Ploughshares ''Ploughshares'' is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, ''Ploughshares'' has been based at Emerson College in Bost ...

'', ''

The Antioch Review ''The Antioch Review'' is an American literary magazine established in 1941 at Antioch College in Ohio. The magazine was published on a quarterly basis. One of the oldest continuously published literary magazines in the United States prior to it ...

'', ''

Prairie Schooner ''Prairie Schooner'' is a literary magazine published quarterly at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with the cooperation of UNL's English Department and the University of Nebraska Press. It is based in Lincoln, Nebraska and was first publish ...

'', among other places. He taught in the Writing Program at

George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was orig ...

and the

Community of Writers The Community of Writers is a writers' conference held each summer in Olympic Valley, California. Founded in 1969, it is the oldest annual writers' conference on the West Coast of the United States. The Community of Writers is a nonprofit 501(c) ...

Early life

Cheuse was born in

Perth Amboy Perth Amboy is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey. Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 55,436. Perth Amboy has a Hispanic majority population. In the 2010 census, t ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

. Cheuse grew up in a Jewish family, the son of a Russian immigrant father and a mother of Russian and

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

n descent. Cheuse graduated from Perth Amboy High School in 1957.

Education

Cheuse graduated from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and wa ...

in 1961. After traveling abroad and working for several years at writing and editing jobs, Cheuse returned to

to study for a Ph.D. in

Comparative Literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

, which he was awarded in 1974. Cheuse wrote a thesis on the life and work of the Cuban novelist

Alejo Carpentier Alejo Carpentier y Valmont (, ; December 26, 1904 – April 24, 1980) was a Cuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous "boom" period. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, of French a ...

. Cheuse taught literature at

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

for nearly a decade and then took posts at Sewanee: The University of the South, the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with College admission ...

, and the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Career

Cheuse joined the faculty at

in the M.F.A. program and taught fiction. For over 25 years, he taught summers at the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley and also served on its board of directors. In the late 1970s Cheuse began publishing short fiction, beginning with a story in ''

'', followed with articles for ''

'', ''

'', and '' New Letters''. He published his first novel, a biographical historical work about John Reed and

Louise Bryant Louise Bryant (December 5, 1885 – January 6, 1936) was an American feminist, political activist, and journalist best known for her sympathetic coverage of Russia and the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution, Russian Revolution of Novembe ...

in 1982. Other works of fiction and nonfiction followed. Cheuse was a regular book reviewer for the NPR radio program ''

''. In 1999, Cheuse also helped to found Fall for the Book, a nonprofit literary festival.

Personal life

Cheuse was involved in a serious car crash on July 14, 2015, on

California State Route 17 State Route 17 (SR 17, locally known as Highway 17) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs from State Route 1 in Santa Cruz to I-280 and I-880 in San Jose. SR 17, a freeway and expressway, carries substantial ...

while driving from

Olympic Valley Olympic Valley (historically or informally known as Squaw Valley) is an unincorporated community located in Placer County, California northwest of Tahoe City along California State Highway 89 on the banks of the Truckee River near Lake Tahoe. ...

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz ( Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a pop ...

. Cheuse was reported to be in a coma on July 20, 2015 with injuries including fractured ribs,

cervical vertebrae In tetrapods, cervical vertebrae (singular: vertebra) are the vertebrae of the neck, immediately below the skull. Truncal vertebrae (divided into thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in mammals) lie caudal (toward the tail) of cervical vertebrae. In ...

, and an acute

subdural hematoma A subdural hematoma (SDH) is a type of bleeding in which a collection of blood—usually but not always associated with a traumatic brain injury—gathers between the inner layer of the dura mater and the arachnoid mater of the meninges surrou ...

. On July 31, 2015, Cheuse died from his auto accident injuries in San Jose, California. He was 75.Colin Dwyer
"Alan Cheuse, Novelist And Longtime NPR Contributor, Dies At 75"
NPR News, 31 July 2015.

Legacy

Alan Cheuse's papers reside at the

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia is a research library that specializes in American history and literature, history of Virginia and the southeastern United States, the history of the University ...

at the

Bibliography

Books

* ''Candace and Other Stories''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Apple-wood Press, 1980. (short story collection) * ''The Bohemians: John Reed & His Friends Who Shook the World''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Apple-wood Books, 1982. (novel) * ''The Grandmothers' Club''. Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith Books, 1986. (novel) * ''Fall Out of Heaven''. Salt Lake City: G. M. Smith, 1987. (memoir) * (novel) * ''The Tennessee Waltz and Other Stories''. Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith Books, 1990. (short story collection) * ''Lost and Old Rivers: Stories''. Dallas, Tex.: Southern Methodist University Press, 1998. (short story collection) * (essays) * (novellas) * (novel) * (travel essays, 2009) * (novel) * ''Paradise, Or, Eat Your Face''. Santa Fe Writers Project, 2012. (novellas) * ''An Authentic Captain Marvel Ring & Other Stories''. Santa Fe Writers Project, 2014. (short stories) * ''Prayers for the Living''. London: Fig Tree Books, 2015.

Selected short fiction

* “Vishnu, Sleeping on the Cosmic Ocean,” The Antioch Review, summer 2013 *
Pip: A Story In Three Parts
" ''Michigan Quarterly Review'' Volume 51, Issue 1, Winter 2012. Based on the character Pip in Herman Melville's ''

Moby Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship '' Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant wh ...

'' * “When the Stars Threw Down Their Spears and Watered Heaven with Their Tears” (novella), The Idaho Review, 2011 * “A Merry Little,” ACM, #48, Winter, 2009 * “An Authentic Captain Marvel Ring,” Superstition Review, Fall, 2008 * “A Little Death,” The Southern Review, Summer, 2007 * “Thirty-Five Passages Over Water,” The Antioch Review, Fall, 2006 * “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1941,” New Letters, Fall, 2006 * “In the Kauri Forest,” Ploughshares, Fall, 2006 * “Gribnis,” Prairie Schooner, Winter, 2006 * “Horse Sacrifice and the Shaman’s Ascent to the Sky,” The Land-Grant College Review, Winter, 2005 * “Paradise, Or, Eat Your Face,” (novella), The Idaho Review, Winter, 2004 * “Revels,” Southern California Anthology, Summer, 2004 * “Days Given Over to Travel,” Prairie Schooner, Summer, 2003

Edited works

* With Lisa Alvarez et al. ''Writing Workshop in a Book: The Squaw Valley Community of Writers on the Art of Fiction''. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2007. * ''Seeing Ourselves: Great Early American Short Stories''. 2007. * With Nicholas Delbanco. ''Literature: Craft & Voice'', Vols. 1–3. 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill, 2012.

References

External links

Alan Cheuse's official website''Littoral'' interview with Alan Cheuse about his novel ''To Catch the Lightning,'' (2008)Public radio interview with Alan Cheuse about historical fiction and his novel ''To Catch the Lightning,'' (2008)Alan Cheuse bio at NPRSanta Fe Writers ProjectAlan Cheuse on 'Song of Slaves in the Desert'

An Authentic Captain Marvel Ring: Perth Amboy, New Jersey, C. 1947
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheuse, Alan 1940 births 2015 deaths American literary critics 20th-century American novelists American people of Russian-Jewish descent American people of Romanian-Jewish descent Bennington College faculty George Mason University faculty Jewish American novelists People from Perth Amboy, New Jersey Rutgers University alumni Sewanee: The University of the South faculty University of Michigan faculty University of Virginia faculty Novelists from New Jersey Novelists from Virginia 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American male short story writers NPR personalities Perth Amboy High School alumni Road incident deaths in California Deaths from subdural hematoma 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Michigan Novelists from Tennessee Novelists from Vermont 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American Jews