Uncollecting Cheever

The Family of John Cheever vs. Academy Chicago Publishers

Anita Miller, Anita Miller

• Publisher: Academy Chicago Publishers
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9780897338790
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Intellectual Property Law
• Index: Law

The story of how little Academy Chicago Publishers (co-owned by the author and her husband, Jordan Miller) tried to publish the late John Cheever's uncollected short stories, and was blocked from doing so by Cheever's family, is now a familiar part of publishing lore (and law).

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• 1 Prelude: “This Is Really Easy”
• 2 “A Splendid Idea”
• 3 “I Suppose You Could Say They Haven’t Been Delivered”
• 4 “A Perfect Agent for the Eighties”
• 5 “John’s Poor Little Stories”
• 6 “Serious Inequities in the Contract”
• 7 “They’re My Only Children”
• 8 “Cheever Clout”
• 9 “Franklin Thinks Maybe the Cheevers Won’t Like It”
• 10 “The Cheevers’ Concern about Premature Publicity”
• 11 “It’s a Matter of Honor”
• 12 “The Work Is of Grossly Substandard Quality”
• 13 Hearing in White Plains: “They Are Not the Stories of John Cheever”
• 14 “It Competes Directly with the Published Literature of John Cheever”
• 15 “I Want You to Publish This Book”
• 16 The Royce Hotel: “You Won’t Sell as Many Books as Random House”
• 17 “As If This Were Dirty Laundry…. Gossip”
• 18 Mary Cheever’s Deposition: “I Would Like This Creep to Finish”
• 19 Franklin Dennis’s Deposition: “I’m Going to Ask the Witness Not to Speak with His Attorney”
• 20 Susan Cheever’s Deposition: “They Are Essentially Package Engineers Rather Than Publishers”
• 21 Ben Cheever’s Deposition: “I Don’t Know a Lot about What Is in This Xerox”
• 22 Andrew Wylie’s Deposition: “What Was the Man’s Name?”
• 23 Evidentiary Hearing, White Plains, Day 1, A.M.: “Is That the One They Made into a Movie?”
• 24 Evidentiary Hearing, White Plains, Day 1, P.M.: “Which President Were You Speaking Of?”
• 25 Evidentiary Hearing, Day 2, A.M.: “Who Is the Beggar?”
• 26 Evidentiary Hearing, Day 2, P.M.: “Do You Contend That She Knew What She Was Doing When She Did That?”
• 27 Interlude between Courtrooms: “The Second Thing They Do, Is They Come before You in a Judge Bash”
• 28 Goettel’s Opinion: “All Plaintiffs Will Prevail”
• 29 “It Looks Like It’s Going to Be Relatively Easy”
• 30 “You Don’t See a Moral Issue Here?”
• 31 Chicago Trial, Days 1 and 2: “They Could Be Bad, They Could Be Good, That Is Not the Issue”
• 32 Chicago Trial, Day 3: “Welcome to Our Fair City”
• 33 Judge Kiley’s Decision: “Most of the Dispute Has Been Decided”
• 34 “A Literary Gold Mine”
• 35 “John Was the King of Hades”
• 36 “Paul Is Named Jack and Mani Is Amy”
• 37 “It Becomes Like a Garbage Can of Stories”
• 38 “Enforcing a Contract for Mary Cheever”
• 39 “Mrs. Cheever Loves Those Stories”
• 40 “Small Press, Small Book”
• 41 “It’s Still a Very Good Idea, in the Abstract”
• 42 “It’s Like Getting a Cancer off Your Back”
• 43 A Hellabaloo
• 44 “Father Sells Best”
• 45 Another Moral Issue
• 46 “A Fascinating Example of One Writer’s Beginning”
• Epilog
• Sources and Notes
• Appendix A: The Publishing Agreement
• Appendix B: Chronology, Lawyers, and the Uncollected Stories List
• About the Author