Best Selling Books by Joseph Heller

A sequel to Catch-22, the 1961 humorous bestseller about a group of American airmen during World War II. The novel follows many of the same characters in their current escapades--mainly to do with selling defense equipment to the Pentagon. In addition, there are their views on the decline of America.

Bob Slocum was living the American dream. He had a beautiful wife, three lovely children, a nice house...and all the mistresses he desired. He had it all -- all, that is, but happiness. Slocum was discontent. Inevitably, inexorably, his discontent deteriorated into desolation until...something happened. Something Happened is Joseph Heller''s wonderfully inventive and controversial second novel satirizing business life and American culture. The story is told as if the reader was overhearing the patter of Bob Slocum''s brain -- recording what is going on at the office, as well as his fantasies and memories that complete the story of his life. The result is a novel as original and memorable as his Catch-22.

Not many writers introduce a phrase - let alone a whole idea - into the language. In CATCH-22, Joseph Heller invented a motif for the modern world. For that book alone he is one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century. But where did the author who was able to create that novel come from? And what happened to those remarkable characters? CATCH AS CATCH CAN for the first time collects early works, previously unpublished stories and lost chapters of CATCH-22 to chart the development of a genius. It also explores the consequences in the later stories of the unforgettable Yossarian, and Heller''s non-fiction pieces, in which the author reflects upon his childhood in Coney Island and the novel which shaped everything that was written after it.

An uproarious and frank memoir of illness and recovery, No Laughing Matter is a story of friendship and recuperation from the author of the classic Catch-22. It all began one typical day in the life of Joe Heller. He was jogging four miles at a clip these days, working on his novel God Knows, coping with the complications of an unpleasant divorce, and pigging out once or twice a week on Chinese food with cronies like Mel Brooks, Mario Puzo, and his buddy of more than twenty years, Speed Vogel. He was feeling perfectly fine that day—but within twenty-four hours he would be in intensive care at Manhattan''s Mount Sinai Hospital. He would remain hospitalized for nearly six months and leave in a wheelchair. Joseph Heller had Guillain-Barré syndrome, a debilitating, sometimes fatal condition that can leave its victims paralyzed from head to toe. The clan gathered immediately. Speed—sometime artist, sometime businessman, sometime herring taster, and now a coauthor—moved into Joe''s apartment as messenger, servant, and shaman. Mel Brooks, arch-hypochondriac of the Western world, knew as much about Heller''s condition as the doctors. Mario Puzo, author of the preeminent gangster novel of our time, proved to be the most reluctant man ever to be dragged along on a hospital visit. These and lots of others rallied around the sickbed in a show of loyalty and friendship that not only built a wild and spirited camaraderie but helped bring Joe Heller, writer and buddy extraordinaire, through his greatest crisis. This book is an inspiring, hilarious memoir of a calamitous illness and the rocky road to recuperation—as only the author of Catch-22 and the friend who helped him back to health could tell it. No Laughing Matter is as wacky, terrifying, and greathearted as any fiction Joseph Heller ever wrote.

Collections of interviews with notable modern writers

As the Biblical David lies on his death-bed he looks back on his own, crowded life and tells all.

Dr. Bruce Gold, a forty-eight-year-old Jewish professor of English, faces the possibilities of being appointed to a high State Department position and being disowned by his family.

"Catch 22, l''Article 22, est un " attrape-nigaud " qui permet à un colonel américain d''imposer un nombre de missions sans cesse croissant à son escadrille de bombardiers basée dans une petite île de la Méditerranée pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Yossaran, héros tragicomique de cette épopée burlesque, est décidé à tout tenter pour sauver sa peau : il estime que sa seule mission, quand il s''envole, consiste à atterrir vivant. Simuler la folie dans cet univers délirant lui paraît le meilleur moyen de tirer au flanc. Hélas, l''Article 22 stipule : " Quiconque veut se dispenser d''aller au feu n''est pas réellement fou. " Cette première œuvre de Joseph Heller compte parmi les meilleurs romans américains de l''après-guerre." [résumé éditeur]

A guide to reading "Catch-22" with a critical and appreciative mind encouraging analysis of plot, style, form, and structure. Also includes background on the author''s life and times, sample test, term paper suggestions, and a reading list.

In this memoir, Joseph Heller takes the reader on a journey back to his upbringing in a poor, predominantly Jewish neighbourhood in Coney Island, through his World War II experiences as a bombadier in the US Air Force in Italy, to his current life as an internationally acclaimed author.

"As Rembrandt is creating his famous painting of Aristotle contemplating the bust of Homer, Aristotle is soon able to see and hear. As the masterpiece makes its way through history, Aristotle''s complicated mind finds unanswerable dilemmas."--

For use in schools and libraries only. Set during World War II, this grotesque, comic novel recounts the amazing adventures of a bomber squadron.