The Seaside Houses
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| "The Seaside Houses" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by John Cheever | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publication | |
| Published in | The New Yorker |
| Publication date | July 29, 1961 |
"The Seaside Houses" is a short story by John Cheever which first appeared in The New Yorker on July 29, 1961. The work was included in the short fiction collection The Brigadier and the Golf Widow (1964), published by Harper and Row.[1][2]
The story is considered one of the most outstanding of the works in the collection.[3][4][5] "The Seaside Houses" is included in The Stories of John Cheever (1978).
The Ogden family rents a lovely seaside house for their summer vacation in New England. Mr. Ogden is intrigued with the residence, named Broadmere, which presents an array of tell-tale clues concerning its former long-term renters, the Greenwoods, who just recently occupied the premises. He begins a desultory inventory of the remaining artifacts, which gradually reveal the character of Mr. Greenwood. The interior of the house is drab, ill-lit and oppressive. Mr. Ogden discovers empty whiskey bottles discarded behind bookshelves, under the piano bench, and concealed outdoors on the property. In his own son's bedroom, he finds a secret message scrawled in another child's hand: "My father is a rat. I repeat. My father is a rat." Mr. Ogden makes an additional discovery: pornographic magazines under the sofa cushions; outraged, he burns these in the fireplace.
Mr. Ogden has a troubling dream: he finds himself in an Italian tavern at closing time. The bartender refuses to mix him a drink. In desperation, Mr. Ogden pays 10,000 lire for a bottle of gin. Ogden recalls: "When I woke, it seemed that I had dreamed one of Mr. Greenwood's dreams."
In a conversation with the property manager, Mrs. Whiteside, Mr. Ogden extracts from her information concerning Mr. Greenwood's business and domestic affairs, while plying her with liquor. This reveals that Mr. Greenwood has apparently experienced a number of disastrous setbacks.
The Ogden's cook announces a medical emergency in her family and departs. Mr. Ogden quarrels with his young son over trivialities. Increasingly irritable with his wife and children, he escapes Broadmere for a brief trip to New York, purportedly on business. Purely by coincidence, Mr. Ogden encounters Mr. Greenwood at a bar in Grand Central Station, whom he instantly recognizes from a photograph at Broadmere. He observes the man, but does not introduce himself. Ogden quickly discerns that the man is an ill-tempered, disaffected and demoralized drunkard. Ogden has a one-night stand with a female office employee and returns to Broadmere with a hangover. Upon his arrival, Mr. Ogden and his wife clash in a sharp and uncompromising verbal dispute which leads to their immediate separation. Ogden reports: "We had been married twelve years ... and I never saw her again."
The story ends with a coda. Ogden has remarried and is living at another seaside rental, but in distinctly reduced financial circumstances. He is an inveterate alcoholic. His wife is a demanding shrew. Ogden suffers acutely from self-pityingly memories of his abandonment of his first wife.[6][7][8][9][10]