Synopses & Reviews
Years before the publication of
Catch-22 ("A monumental artifact of contemporary literature" --
The New York Times; "An apocalyptic masterpiece" --
Chicago Sun-Times; "One of the most bitterly funny works in the language" --
The New Republic), Joseph Heller began sharpening his skills as a writer, searching for the voice that would best express his own peculiarly wry view of the world.
In Catch As Catch Can, editors Matthew J. Bruccoli and Park Bucker have for the first time collected the short stories Heller published prior to that first novel, along with all the other short pieces of fiction and nonfiction that were published during his lifetime. Also included are five previously unpublished short stories, most reflecting the influence on Heller of urban naturalist writers such as Irwin Shaw and Nelson Algren.
The result is an important and significant addition to our understanding and appreciation of Joseph Heller, showing his evolution as a writer and artist. For those unfamiliar with his work, it will serve as an excellent introduction; for everyone else, Catch As Catch Can is a chance to explore a new aspect of Heller's remarkable career.
Review
The San Diego Union-Tribune Read this collection chronologically to appreciate Heller's growing command of tone and plot. Or dip in and out to sample his variety, which encompassed theater..., stories of romance, violence and heroin, travel writing and the memoir. He was so versatile that he could have concentrated on any one of these genres.
Synopsis
A collection of short stories and other miscellaneous writings by Joseph Heller, one of America's most influential and idiosyncratic writers.
Years before the publication of Catch-22--which was called "a monumental artifact of contemporary literature" by The New York Times, "an apocalyptic masterpiece" by the Chicago Sun-Times, and "one of the most bitterly funny works in the language" by The New Republic--Joseph Heller began sharpening his skills as a writer, searching for the voice that would best express his own peculiarly wry view of the world.
In Catch As Catch Can, editors Matthew J. Bruccoli and Park Bucker have for the first time collected the short stories Heller published prior to that first novel, along with all the other short pieces of fiction and nonfiction that were published during his lifetime. Also included are five previously unpublished short stories, most reflecting the influence on Heller of urban naturalist writers such as Irwin Shaw and Nelson Algren.
The result is an important and significant addition to our understanding and appreciation of Joseph Heller, showing his evolution as a writer and artist. For those unfamiliar with his work, it will serve as an excellent introduction; for everyone else, Catch As Catch Can is a chance to explore a new aspect of Heller's remarkable career.
About the Author
Joseph Heller was born in Brooklyn in 1923. In 1961, he published Catch-22, which became a bestseller and, in 1970, a film. He went on to write such novels as Good as Gold, God Knows, Picture This, Closing Time (the sequel to Catch-22), and Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man. Heller died in December 1999.
Table of Contents
ContentsForeword by Matthew J. Bruccoli and Park Bucker
Previously Published Stories
I Don't Love You Any More (1945)
Bookies, Beware! (1947)
Lot's Wife (1948)
Castle of Snow (1948)
Girl from Greenwich (1948)
A Man Named Flute (1948)
Nothing to Be Done (1948)
World Full of Great Cities (1955)
MacAdam's Log (1959)
Love, Dad (1969)
Yossarian Survives (1987)
Catch-23: Yossarian Lives (1990)
The Day Bush Left (1990)
Previously Unpublished Stories
To Laugh in the Morning
A Day in the Country
From Dawn to Dusk
The Death of the Dying Swan
The Sound of Asthma
Play
Clevinger's Trial (1973)
On Catch-22
Catch-22 Revisited (1967)
Joseph Heller Talks About Catch-22 (1972)
Reeling In Catch-22 (1977)
"I Am the Bombardier!" (1995)
Recollection
Coney Island: The Fun Is Over (1962)