John Cheever Born May 27, 1912 died June 18,1982 “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 Cheever John Cheever was born May 27, 1912. During the years leading up to the Great Depression his parents owned a gift shop and a shoe factory. The shoe factory was a victim of the depression and the family survived on the income generated by his mother’s gift shop. He was expelled from Thayer at age seventeen for smoking and poor grades. The result was Cheever's first published work, "Expelled" and it was published in The New Republic on October 1, 1930. After leaving school, Cheever toured Europe with his older brother, Frederick.