Joseph Heller






Joseph Heller

author profile


born
May 01, 1923

died
December 12, 1999

gender
male

place of birth
Brooklyn, New York, The United States

genre
Literature & Fiction


about this author

Joseph Heller was, the son of poor Jewish parents from Russia. Even as a child, he loved to write; at the age of eleven, he wrote a story about the Russian invasion of Finland. He sent it to New York Daily News, which rejected it.After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1941, Heller spent the next year working as a blacksmith's apprentice, a messenger boy, and a filing clerk. In 1942, at age 19, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. Two years later he was sent to Italy, where he flew 60 combat missions as a B-25 bombardier. Heller later remembered the war as "fun in the beginning... You got the feeling that there was something glorious about it." On his return home he "felt like a hero... People think it quite remark...more




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avg rating: 3.96 | 44,158 ratings | 3,441 reviews | 36 distinct works | 58 fans
Catch-22 Catch-22
by Joseph Heller
avg rating 4.02 — 36,530 ratings — published 1955
66 editions
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Something Happened Something Happened
by Joseph Heller
avg rating 3.42 — 920 ratings — published 1974
18 editions
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Closing Time Closing Time
by Joseph Heller
avg rating 2.83 — 787 ratings — published 1994
16 editions
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God Knows God Knows
by Joseph Heller
avg rating 3.68 — 473 ratings — published 1984
11 editions
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Good As Gold Good As Gold
by Joseph Heller
avg rating 3.09 — 411 ratings — published 1979
10 editions
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Portrait of an Artist, as an O... Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man
by Joseph Heller
avg rating 3.17 — 241 ratings — published 2000
8 editions
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Picture This : A Novel Picture This : A Novel
by Joseph Heller
avg rating 3.57 — 199 ratings — published 1988
6 editions
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Catch As Catch Can: The Collec... Catch As Catch Can: The Collected Stories and Other Writings
by Joseph Heller
avg rating 3.63 — 92 ratings — published 2003
5 editions
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No Laughing Matter No Laughing Matter
by Joseph Heller, Speed Vogel
avg rating 3.49 — 39 ratings — published 1986
5 editions
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We Bombed in New Haven: A Play... We Bombed in New Haven: A Play.
by Joseph Heller
avg rating 3.28 — 39 ratings — published 1968
2 editions
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"There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

"That's some catch, that Catch-22," he observed.

"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed."
Joseph Heller (Catch-22)
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"He was going to live forever, or die in the attempt."
Joseph Heller (Catch-22)
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"Insanity is contagious."
Joseph Heller (Catch-22)
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