Joseph Heller is a cult American novelist. During his life, Joseph wrote a lot of interesting books. However, he is familiar to the Russian reader thanks to the anti-war novel with elements of absurdism called "Trick 22". Want to learn more about this writer and his work? You are welcome to read this article.
Biography
The future writer was born in Brooklyn on May 1, 1923. Little Joseph grew up in a poor Jewish family that was of Russian origin. He began to write young talent from an early age. In 1941, Joseph Heller graduated from the Abraham Lincoln School and began to seek a profession for himself. Whoever Joseph worked for this year: assistant clerk, blacksmith, courier. In 1942 (when Joseph was 19 years old) he joined the ranks of the US Air Force. Two years later, Heller was sent to Italy. There he carries out about 60 sorties on a B-25 bomber.
In 1949, Joseph Heller received a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University . Throughout 1949-1950, thanks to the Fullbright Fellowship Program, Joseph conducts research at one of the best English universities - Oxford. It was during his student years that Heller wrote his first works, which were published in Esquire and Atlantic Mansley. From 1950 to 1952, the young writer teaches at a university in the state of Pennsylvania. From 1952 to 1958, Joseph wrote various advertising texts for popular magazines like Time and Esquire. Since 1961, Heller gives up this work and begins to conduct creative seminars on prose and dramaturgy. Joseph begins to engage in active literary activity. For more than 30 years, the writer has presented the world with a huge number of novels, which are currently world classics. Joseph Heller died on December 13, 1999, at his Long Island home. The cause of death was a heart attack.
Catch-22 (Amendment-22 / Catch-22)
Since 1953, he begins work on a novel called "Trick-22." Joseph Heller wrote this novel for 8 years. This book made a real revolution in the genre of anti-war novel. What is the peculiarity of this work? You can find the answer to this question later.
Perhaps the novel's novelty was that the author did not condemn the Germans or the Japanese for starting a war. Heller believed that the blame was on American high-ranking military personnel and bloody politicians who were trying to cash in on the war. In addition, the author strongly condemns sadistic people who enjoy killing and war in general.
The novel "Trick-22" left a big mark in culture. In 1970, the work was filmed by a notorious director named Mike Nichols. And the phrase "situation-22" has become a stable expression, indicating a difficult situation.
Joseph Heller: Books
During his life, an English writer has published quite a few books. In addition to the novel "Trick 22", Joseph Heller wrote many more works that have become real classics. Want to know more about them? Then keep reading the article!
"Imagine a picture" is an entertaining book that touches on the pressing problems of that time. In his work, the author tries to show the contrast between different time periods and wars. Thus, the author compares the war between Athens and Sparta, the Anglo-Dutch and the Cold War.
And in 1969, a play entitled "We bombed New Haven" came out from under Joseph Heller's pen. The work was a huge success, as a result of which the play survived more than 80 productions on Broadway.
In 1986, the world saw a new book, which was written in collaboration with Speed Vogel. The novel "This is not a joke" spoke about Heller’s difficult and courageous struggle with a rare disease that led to paralysis.
In 1998, Heller released the book, From Time to Time. In fact, this work is autobiographical. In it, Joseph returns to the significant locations of his childhood. For example, in the Brooklyn entertainment park, which is located on Coney Island.
Joseph Heller Quotes
Heller very skillfully and masterfully expressed his thoughts. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that most of his books were dismantled into winged expressions. Here we look at the most popular of them.
Heller tried to draw public attention to the problem of war and urge people to humanity. This can be clearly traced by taking a couple of lines from his work "Trick 22". For example: "Anyone who wants to evade a combat mission is normal." Or: "And people do not care: they have any noble impulse, any tragedy - only means for gain." Finally: "A dead man will remain a dead man, no matter who wins, your victory is to him - that is a poultice to a dead dog." With these lines, Joseph is trying to show all the meaninglessness and brutality of the war.