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(More customer reviews)Joseph Heller's "Catch-22," which I read for the first time soon after it was published when I was in junior high school, is one of those books that I re-read every four or five years. I have it in my library, of course (a rare, first-edition, 75-cent Dell paperback), but whenever I want to read it again I check it out of a library to preserve my pristine copy. I remember some of its madcap passages and stunningly turned phrases word-for-word:
"When didn't you say we couldn't punish you? Don't you understand my question?"
"No, sir. I don't understand."
"You've just told us that. Now suppose you answer my question."
"But how can I answer it?"
"That's another question you're asking me."
"I'm sorry, sir. But I don't know how to answer it. I never said you couldn't punish me."
"Now you're telling me when you did say it. I'm asking you to tell us when you didn't say it."
Clevinger took a deep breath. "I always didn't say you couldn't punish me, sir."
Great stuff! If you want to understand more about the author who conceived the brilliant "Catch-22," pick up Tracy Daugherty's "Just One Catch: A Biography of Joseph Heller" immediately. Exceptionally well-written, comprehensive, fast-paced and filled with meaningful insights into Mr. Heller's life and works, this is one of the best biographies I've read in years.
I've always wondered how much of "Catch-22" came from Mr. Heller's wartime experiences. It turns out that quite a bit of it did. By the time you get 100 pages into "Just One Catch," as Mr. Daugherty relates in detail Mr. Heller's World War II military duty as a bombardier in a B-25 bomber squadron based on Corsica, you'll see many recognizable characters from the novel. You'll find out who inspired Aarfy, Kid Sampson, Major Major, Chief White Halfoat, the dead man in Yossarian's tent, Chaplain Tappman, Major _____ de Coverly, Milo Minderbinder and many others. You'll learn things Mr. Heller personally experienced that appear in "Catch-22"--hanging out in rented apartments in Rome, flying through devastating flak barrages, seeing a bomber fly into a mountain, and (the focal point of the entire novel) tending to a crewman horribly wounded by flak in the back of a B-25.
I didn't do page counts, but I estimate that about a third of "Just One Catch" covers Mr. Heller's childhood on Coney Island, his military service, his post-War work in Madison Avenue ad agencies and his early published short stories. Another third or so--the part I found most fascinating--describes in great detail the years-long genesis of "Catch-22," and its reception by reviewers and the public. Any aspiring author should find this material of great interest (although the process is nothing like that today). The last third covers Mr. Heller's sickness with Guillain-Barré syndrome, his divorce from his first wife of 37 years and other events. During this period, he wrote his other novels--"Something Happened," "Good as Gold," "God Knows," "Picture This" and "Closing Time." I must admit I have not read all of them, but I will correct that situation as soon as I have the time. Because I was unfamiliar with some of his later works, I did not get as much from the last third of "Just One Catch" as I did from the rest of it. That doesn't mean it is not as good as the first part--I just lacked the literary knowledge to understand the specific references to his later books.
I recommend "Just One Catch" most enthusiastically and without reservation. I also offer one other recommendation--read Mr. Heller's novels first. If it has been years since you read "Catch-22," read it again before tackling this biography. Read his later, lesser-known novels as well. You will then be fully prepared to better understand how some of the greatest works of modern American literature came to be written.
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In time for the 50th anniversary of Catch-22, Tracy Daugherty, the critically acclaimed author of Hiding Man (a New Yorker and New York Times Notable book), illuminates his most vital subject yet in this first biography of Joseph Heller.
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