The World of Apples

The World of Apples is the sixth collection of short fiction by author John Cheever, published in 1973 by Alfred A. Knopf. The ten stories originally appeared individually in The New Yorker, Esquire, The Saturday Evening Post or Playboy.
The publication of The World of Apples coincided with Cheever's nomination to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Stories

The original date of publication and name of the journal appear in parentheses.:
"The Chimera"
"Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin"
"Montraldo"
"The Geometry of Love"
"The [World of Apples (short story)|The World of Apples]"
"Percy"
"The Fourth Alarm"
"Artemis, the Honest Well-Digger"
"The Jewels of the Cabots"
"Three Stories"

The World of Apples received outstanding reviews upon its release, and according to biographer Blake Bailey "some of the best reviews of Cheever's career."
Literary critic Lynne Waldeland reports that Larry Woiwode of the New York Times Book Review praised the volume as "an extraordinary book, a transfiguring experience for the reader, and Cheever at his best…"
Biographer Scott Donaldson offers this measured assessment of the collection: