Joseph Heller

Writing a Muscular Mystery

Lev Raphael | Posted 04.06.2012

Lev Raphael

I've always been making up stories about people I see, whether in restaurants, malls, parks, theaters, wherever. hat's just how I see the world, or the many worlds within this world. One of those is the enormous health club that I've belonged to for 20 years.

Remembering Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut in Conversation

Carole Mallory | Posted 05.11.2012

Carole Mallory

Reading Susan Braudy's vivid remembrance of Joe Heller made me recall the time I had the opportunity to interview him in conversation with Kurt Vonnegut. Just how did I get this dynamic duo together for a chat with a tape recorder by my side?

I Remember Joe Heller -- Part 2

Susan Braudy | Posted 05.01.2012

Susan Braudy

As an artist, he dared to write the unthinkable: that it's totally insane to be 22 years old and to see another soldier's half-digested lunch spill in a bloody mess out of his flak jacket after he'd been pulverized by a bomb.

I Remember Joe Heller -- Part 1

Susan Braudy | Posted 04.30.2012

Susan Braudy

In 1967, my life turned a sharp corner. I impulsively decided to audit Heller's playwriting seminar at Yale. His mordant new novel, Catch-22, was suddenly as relevant as Bob Dylan, whose music I would learn he loved.

Hard Print: John Barth on Fistfights, Riots and Shadow Boxing With Norman Mailer

John Hood | Posted 04.16.2012

John Hood

Star-studded seminars aren't the only things Barth fondly recalls, nor are they even the most violent, playfully or otherwise. In fact, an episode at SUNY/Buffalo almost got our man mauled not by a literary lion -- but by the authorities.

Joseph Heller Was Not 'Hannibal Lecter Crossed With Mussolini'

Erica Heller | Posted 01.04.2012

Erica Heller

My father was not Hannibal Lecter crossed with Mussolini, as a few have apparently thought I've depicted him in my book. His teasing sometimes hit the wrong note, but I think half the time he said things simply because they were too clever to suppress.

'Catch-22': The 50 Year Old Paradox Still Rings True

www.npr.org | Posted 12.13.2011

Fifty years ago, a new phrase began to make its way into American conversations: "Catch-22." Joseph Heller's irreverent World War II novel — named f...

Happy 50th Anniversary, Catch-22

Erica Heller | Posted 12.10.2011

Erica Heller

The first time I saw Catch-22, I fell madly in love with it. I was only nine years old, and read about three pages before putting it down. Although I've tried many times to finish reading it, I'm only reading the whole book for the first time now.

Joseph Heller's Circle Of Friends Was No 'Midnight In Paris'

Erica Heller | Posted 12.05.2011

Erica Heller

Joseph Heller's crowd was not, shall we say, exactly Gertrude Stein's Parisian Salon. Dad's evenings of recreation and creative amusement ended more as Midnight at the Rickshaw Garage than Midnight in Paris.

One-Hit Wonders Revisited: Happy Anniversary to The Last Picture Show

David Galenson | Posted 12.04.2011

David Galenson

All the artists mentioned here appear to have been conceptual innovators, and that their puzzling declines may be a result of the fact that age is not the friend of the conceptual imagination.

Merry Christmas, And Please Pass The Hamantaschen

Erica Heller | Posted 11.29.2011

Erica Heller

In retrospect, perhaps Catch-22 was our religion. It came with its own holidays, code of ethics and conduct, with joy and with tsouris, not tsimmis.

The Catch-22 of Book Readings, The Taste of Mackerel

Erica Heller | Posted 11.23.2011

Erica Heller

I prepared for my book reading the way I prepare for most new life experiences: I broke out in hives, didn't sleep for a week, misplaced the mascara, was limned in a perpetual clammy sweat, couldn't breathe and felt bizarrely seasick.

The Waitress Who Traded Barbs With Joseph Heller

Erica Heller | Posted 10.31.2011

Erica Heller

Listening to Dee and my father having a conversation was like snaring front seats at the Sarcasm Olympics, with barbs and ripostes flying back and forth over the table, whizzing past your stuffed derma like torpedoes.

When Fame And My Father Met: Joseph Heller's Own Catch-22

Erica Heller | Posted 10.24.2011

Erica Heller

I witnessed the spectacular transformation of my father, Joseph Heller, as he started to become a celebrity and a charmless believer in his own schtick.

What's the Catch?

Jan Herman | Posted 09.24.2011

Jan Herman

Just read the excerpt in Vanity Fair of the new Joseph Heller biography, and there's no mention of Nelson Algren.

Authors Who Are Famous For The Wrong Book

guardian.co.uk | John Self | Posted 09.18.2011

Why is it that the book for which an author is best known is rarely their best? If history is the final judge of literary achievement, why has a title...

The Cheater's Guide to Getting Published

Jeff Klima | Posted 06.27.2011

Jeff Klima

As many of you doubtlessly know, getting your foot in the door is the hardest part of becoming a drug-addled, world-weary, bourgeois lech with a ballp...

Been Waiting For This Moment?

examiner.com | Posted 05.25.2011

After a year of negotiations with the late Joseph Heller's literary agency, Simon & Schuster has released the ebook edition of Heller's more famous wo...

Playboy's Most Scandalous Fiction: Palahniuk, Nabokov, Heller ... Roald Dahl!

Flavor Wire | Posted 05.25.2011

Playboy playmates generally fit a consistent set of criteria, but the men's magazine is far more varied when it comes to its featured fiction. With an...

5 Literary Hook-Ups I'd Like to See

Caroline Hagood | Posted 05.25.2011

Caroline Hagood

Which writers would you like to see get it on?

Publishers, Authors Battle Over eBooks: Who Owns The Rights?

Huffington Post | Amy Hertz and Jessie Kunhardt | Posted 05.25.2011

On Friday, Random House started up a battle with authors when CEO Markus Dohle sent out a letter to literary agents regarding the rights to backlist b...

Veterans Day: 10 Classic American War Books (POLL)

Huffington Post | Jessie Kunhardt | Posted 05.25.2011

In honor of Veterans Day, we've put together a list of 10 great American war books. These range from the timeless classics to the modern, from those t...

Joe the Plumber vs. Joe Heller, the Writer

Erica Heller | Posted 05.25.2011

Erica Heller

Madness and stupidity are, alas, not limited to the arena of war. The publishing world seems to also have stepped in it, and will now leave us its grimy footprints to follow on the real Bridge to Nowhere.

So, Who Would Joseph Heller Vote For Next Tuesday?

Erica Heller | Posted 05.25.2011

Erica Heller

Most people would automatically assume it to be the brilliant kid from Harvard rather than the spooky, disingenuous, creaky-wheel from yesteryear. They would be wrong.