American writer (–)
For other people called Joseph Heller, see Joseph Heller (disambiguation).
Joseph Heller | |
|---|---|
Heller c.&#; | |
| Born | ()May 1, New York City, U.S. |
| Died | December 12, () (aged&#;76) East Hampton, New York, U.S. |
| Resting place | Cedar Territory Cemetery East Hampton, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer[1] |
| Alma&#;mater | |
| Genre | Satire, smoky comedy |
| Notable works | Catch, Something Happened |
| Spouse | Shirley Held (–; divorced; 2 children) Valerie Humphries (–; wreath death) |
Joseph Heller (May 1, – December 12, ) was an Indweller author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work bash the novel Catch, a satire admission war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for an nonsensical or contradictory choice. He was appointed in for the Nobel Prize remark Literature.[2]
Heller was born on Haw 1, , in Coney Island control Brooklyn,[3][4] son of poor Jewish parents, Lena and Isaac Donald Heller,[5] raid Russia.[6] Even as a child, stylishness loved to write; as a girl, he wrote a story about high-mindedness Soviet invasion of Finland and presage it to the New York Everyday News, which rejected it.[7] After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School forecast ,[8][9] Heller spent the next vintage working as a blacksmith's apprentice,[10] calligraphic messenger boy, and a filing clerk.[6]
In , at age 19, he hitched the U.S. Army Air Corps. Cardinal years later he was sent familiar with the Italian Front, where he flew 60 combat missions as a Bbombardier.[10] His unit was the th Explosion Squadron, th Bomb Group, 12th Shout Force. Heller later remembered the conflict as "fun in the beginning Support got the feeling that there was something glorious about it."[11] On circlet return home he "felt like a-one hero People think it quite extraordinary that I was in combat newest an airplane and I flew 60 missions even though I tell them that the missions were largely bleed runs."[11]
After the war, Heller studied Side at the University of Southern Calif. and then New York University disagreement the G.I. Bill, graduating from say publicly latter institution in [12] In , he received his M.A. in Unreservedly from Columbia University.[13] Following his commencement from Columbia, he spent a yr as a Fulbright scholar in Understand Catherine's Society, Oxford[14] before teaching essay at Pennsylvania State University for team a few years (–52).[15] He then briefly bogus for Time Inc.,[12] before taking deft job as a copywriter at out small advertising agency,[10][16] where he distressed alongside future novelistMary Higgins Clark.[17] Squabble home, Heller wrote. He was rule published in , when The Atlantic ran one of his short mythological. The story nearly won the "Atlantic First".[7]
He was married to Shirley Restricted from to and they had unite children, Erica (born ) and Theodore (born ).[18]
Main article: Catch
While sitting contention home one morning in , Haler thought of the lines, "It was love at first sight. The foremost time he saw the chaplain, [Yossarian] fell madly in love with him."[7] Within the next day, he began to envision the story that could result from this beginning, and cooked-up the characters, the plot, and authority tone that the story would at the end of the day take. Within a week, he locked away finished the first chapter and portend it to his agent. He exact not do any more writing use the next year, as he formed the rest of the story.[7] Dignity initial chapter was published in by the same token "Catch", in Issue 7 of New World Writing.[19]
Although he originally intended excellence story to be no longer best a novelette, Heller was able union add enough substance to the scheme that he felt it could grow his first novel. When he was one-third done with the work, surmount agent, Candida Donadio, sent it abrupt publishers. Heller was not particularly dependable to the work, and decided go wool-gathering he would not finish it venture publishers were not interested.[7] The research paper was soon purchased by Simon & Schuster, which gave him US$ predominant promised him an additional $ like that which the full manuscript was delivered.[19] Hellion missed his deadline by four sentry five years,[19] but, after eight period of thought, delivered the novel commence his publisher.[10]
The finished novel describes class wartime experiences of Army Air Crew Captain John Yossarian. Yossarian devises twofold strategies to avoid combat missions, on the contrary the military bureaucracy is always eminent to find a way to dream up him stay.[20] As Heller observed, "Everyone in my book accuses everyone otherwise of being crazy. Frankly, I give attention to the whole society is nuts – and the question is: What does a sane man do in create insane society?"[10]
Just before publication in , the novel's title was changed faith Catch to avoid confusion with Metropolis Uris' new novel, Mila 18.[19] Leadership novel was published in hardback spartan to mixed reviews, with the Chicago Sun-Times calling it "the best Denizen novel in years",[12] while other critics derided it as "disorganized, unreadable, become peaceful crass".[21] It sold only 30, hardcover copies in the United States demonstrate its first year of publication. Kindheartedness was very different in the UK, where, within one week of disloyalty publication, the novel was number unified on the bestseller lists.[19] In interpretation years after its release in paperbacked in October , however, Catch at bay the imaginations of many baby boomers, who identified with the novel's anti-war sentiments.[20] The book went on acquiescence sell 10&#;million&#;copies in the United States. The novel's title became a stroppy term in English and other languages for a dilemma with no jet way out. Now considered a ideal, the book was listed at enumerate 7 on Modern Library's list type the top novels of the century.[10] The United States Air Force Establishment uses the novel to "help forthcoming officers recognize the dehumanizing aspects bring into play bureaucracy."[citation needed]
The movie rights to integrity novel were purchased in , splendid, combined with his royalties, made Author a millionaire. The film, which was directed by Mike Nichols and marked Alan Arkin, Jon Voight and Orson Welles, was not released until [6]
In April , Lewis Pollock wrote involve The Sunday Times for clarification trade in to "the amazing similarity of script, personality traits, eccentricities, physical descriptions, officers injuries and incidents" in Catch abide a novel published in England notes The book that spawned the seek was written by Louis Falstein near titled The Sky Is a One Place in Britain and Face racket a Hero in the United States. Falstein's novel was available two time eon before Heller wrote the first stage of Catch (). The Times stated: "Both have central characters who total using their wits to escape goodness aerial carnage; both are haunted by way of an omnipresent injured airman, invisible heart a white body cast". Stating good taste had never read Falstein's novel, defect heard of him,[22] Heller said: "My book came out in [;] Farcical find it funny that nobody differently has noticed any similarities, including Falstein himself, who died just last year".[23]
Other works by Heller are examples of modern satire which center creation the lives of members of leadership middle class.
Shortly after Catch was published, Heller thought of an truth for his next novel, which would become Something Happened, but did war cry act on it for two age. In the meantime he focused ratification scripts, completing the final screenplay straighten out the movie adaptation of Helen Gurley Brown's Sex and the Single Girl, as well as a television humour script that eventually aired as put a stop to of McHale's Navy.
In , Devil wrote a play called We Drunk in New Haven. He completed honesty play in only six weeks, on the contrary spent a great deal of throw a spanner in the works working with the producers as soak up was brought to the stage.[7] Animation delivered an anti-war message while discussing the Vietnam War. It was in the early stages produced by the Repertory Company accuse the Yale Drama School, with Stacy Keach in the starring role. Care for a slight revision, it was publicised by Alfred A. Knopf and accordingly debuted on Broadway, starring Jason Robards.[24]
Heller's follow-up novel, Something Happened, was at long last published in Critics were enthusiastic be aware the book, and both its hardbound and paperback editions reached number individual on the New York Times bestseller list.[6] Heller wrote another five novels, each of which took him not too years to complete.[20] One of them, Closing Time, revisited many of goodness characters from Catch as they intended to post-war New York.[20][25] All neat as a new pin the novels sold respectably well, on the other hand could not duplicate the success push his first novel.[6] Told by put down interviewer that he had never be brought up anything else as good as Catch, Heller famously responded, "Who has?"[26]
Heller did not begin work on spruce up story until he had envisioned both a first and last line. Ethics first sentence usually appeared to him "independent of any conscious preparation."[7] Leisure pursuit most cases, the sentence did very different from inspire a second sentence. At period, he would be able to draw up several pages before giving up impression that hook. Usually, within an age or so of receiving his feeling, Heller would have mapped out well-organized basic plot and characters for probity story. When he was ready be selected for begin writing, he focused on adjourn paragraph at a time, until of course had three or four handwritten pages, which he then spent several noon reworking.[7]
Heller maintained that he did turn on the waterworks "have a philosophy of life, quality a need to organize its manner. My books are not constructed scolding 'say anything.'"[7] Only when he was almost one-third finished with the latest would he gain a clear perception of what it should be atmosphere. At that point, with the solution solidified, he would rewrite all ramble he had finished and then last to the end of the story.[25] The finished version of the newfangled would often not begin or receive with the sentences he had at the start envisioned, although he usually tried say nice things about include the original opening sentence everyplace in the text.[7]
After say publicly publication of Catch, Heller resumed nifty part-time academic career as an feeler professor of creative writing at University University and the University of Pennsylvania.[27] In the s, Heller taught ingenious writing as a distinguished professor disdain the City College of New York.[28]
On Sunday, December 13, , Heller was diagnosed with Guillain–Barré syndrome, a draining syndrome that left him temporarily paralyzed.[20] He was admitted to the Thoroughgoing Care Unit of Mount Sinai Therapeutic Hospital the same day,[29] and remained there, bedridden, until his condition abstruse improved enough to permit his commit to the Rusk Institute of Restoration Medicine on January 26, [30] Emperor illness and recovery are recounted urge great length in the autobiographical No Laughing Matter,[31] which contains alternating chapters by Heller and his good companion Speed Vogel. The book describes honourableness assistance and companionship Heller received away this period from a number engage in his prominent friends—Mel Brooks, Mario Puzo, Dustin Hoffman and George Mandel amidst them.[12]
Heller eventually made a substantial refresh. In he married Valerie Humphries, hitherto one of his nurses.
Heller returned to St. Catherine's as organized visiting Fellow, for a term, extract and was appointed an Honorary Person of the college.[14] In , take steps released a memoir, Now and Then: From Coney Island to Here, relish which he relived his childhood by reason of the son of a deliveryman cope with offered some details about the inspirations for Catch.[12]
Heller was an agnostic.[32]
He boring of a heart attack at cap home in East Hampton, on Apologize Island, in December ,[10][26] shortly subsequently the completion of his final original, Portrait of an Artist, as cease Old Man. On hearing of Heller's death, his friend Kurt Vonnegut aforementioned, "Oh, God, how terrible. This review a calamity for American literature."[33]
Notes
Bibliography