Just One Catch (90 page)

“When people our age speak of the war”
: ibid., p. 11.

“At 4:30 I stood contemplating the place”
: Ken Miller's research notes for
Closing Time,
Joseph Heller Archive, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Thomas Cooper Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina.

“I'm keeping my distance from the publisher”
: Straitfeld, “Catch-23,” p. 104.

“I look good”
: Margarita Fichtner, “Heller Takes a Chance and Resurrects Yossarian,”
Albany Times,
October 2, 1984.

“I hate that title”
: Mark Lawson, “Joey Heller's Happy Ending,”
The Independent,
September 25, 1994; posted at
independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/joey-hellers-happy-ending.html
.

her father was “around”
: Erica Heller in an e-mail to the author, February 11, 2010.

“to punctuate a sentence at work”
: ibid.

“[A]n atrocity”
: Carole Mallory, “The Joe and Kurt Show,”
Playboy,
May 1992; posted at
vonnegutweb.com/vonnegutia/interviews/int_heller.html
.

“I'm a narcissist”
: Straitfeld, “Catch-23,” p. 104.

“It was always easy to accept who I was”
: Itabari Njeri, “Joseph Heller: The Jewish Novelist Explains Just Why It Wasn't Easy to Become a Jewish Novelist,”
Los Angeles Times,
January 13, 1988; posted at
articles.latimes.com/1988–01–13/news/vw-23881_1_joseph-heller
.

“more [ambitions] than any one human”
: Heller's remark published in
Voices and Visions
(promotional catalog for the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Study Center), posted at
rockefellerfoundation.org/uploads/files/o
.

“The evening ended quietly”
: Heller's rough-draft notes for a 1992 article in
Forbes FYI,
Joseph Heller Archive.

His brother Lee had died
: Lee Heller died in West Palm Beach, Florida, on November 28, 1992.

“They could possibly shit on it”
: Straitfeld, “Catch-23,” p. 104.

“There's no question”
: ibid., p. 105.

“We've positioned it as a bestseller”
: ibid.

“There comes a time”
: ibid., p. 104.

“In
Catch-22
, Heller chose his targets carefully”
: Ben Macintyre, “The Perkiest of Pessimists,”
The Times
(London), October 21, 1994.

“richness of narrative tone”
: William H. Pritchard, “Yossarian Redux,”
New York Times Book Review,
September 25, 1994; posted at
nytimes.com/books/98/02/15/home/heller-closing.html
.

“Score one for Joseph Heller”
: Carlin Romano, “Catching Up with ‘Catch-22' in ‘Closing Time,'”
Philadelphia Inquirer,
October 2, 1994.

“What I sense in most of these reviews”
: Straitfeld, “Catch-23,” p. 105.

“In … twenty more years”
: Heller,
Closing Time,
p. 13.

“combin[e] the intensity of the [humorous] moment”
: Robert Polhemus,
Comic Faith
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980), pp. 18–19.

“stimulated … by … optimism”
: Heller,
Closing Time,
p. 461.

“no illusions”
: ibid., p. 462.

“It's my masterpiece”
: Jerry McQueen in an e-mail to the author, July 29, 2009.

“[I had heard that Heller] … had the reputation”
: This and subsequent quotes from the conversation between Berkman and Heller are from Meredith Berkman, “A Family Gets Together After Closing Time,”
Newsday,
October 5, 1994.

“How would you like to be a seventy-one-year-old certified American literary heavyweight”
: Christopher Buckley, “Gotterdammerung-22,”
The New Yorker,
October 10, 1994, pp. 104, 109.

“I think you know me”
: This quote and subsequent exchanges between Heller and Buckley are from their correspondence, Joseph Heller Archive.

“I can't believe it”
: This and subsequent quotes and details regarding the landing of the B-25 on Long Island are from Diane Ketcham, “Long Island Journal: Writer Outgrows His B-25,”
New York Times,
January 1, 1995, posted at
nytimes.com/1995/01/01/nyregion/long-island-journal-488095.html
; Ellen Kaiser, “It's Official,”
Dan's Papers,
September 13, 1996; Irene Keller, “Catch '94,”
Dan's Papers,
December 16, 1994; Renee Schilhab, “Memories of a Wartime Friend,”
Southampton Press,
December 15, 1994.

“[We're] not about to let you go through all this yourself”
: Erica Heller in an e-mail to the author, February 21, 2010.

“It is painful for me to recall how my wife was”
: Joseph Heller,
Something Happened
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1974), p. 103.

“Call her”
: This and subsequent quotes and details regarding Shirley Heller's last days are from Erica Heller, draft of a memoir,
Yossarian Slept Here,
provided to the author on February 11, 2010.

“[H]e showed up the night before with his sister Sylvia”
: Erica Heller in an e-mail to the author, February 11, 2010.

“It feels wonderfully strange”
: David Zurawik, “Heller Impressed with TV's ‘Catch-22,'”
Baltimore Sun,
September 14, 1996.

20. WHEN THEY SPEAK OF THE WAR

“We worked at what we could”
: Joseph Heller, rough draft of
Now and Then,
Joseph Heller Archive, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Thomas Cooper Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina.

“to lose about ten of the pounds”
: This quote and subsequent exchanges between Heller and Buckley in this chapter are from their correspondence, Joseph Heller Archive.

“I have a feeling”
: Heller's remarks were made during an interview on
The Charlie Rose Show,
October 24, 1994; see
charlierose.com/guest/view/3857
.

“I've become a dyspeptic recluse”
: Michael Hirsch, “Brooklyn People,”
Bay News,
August 3, 1998.

There were those who
: anecdote provided to the author by an anonymous source in February 2010.

One night, at a dinner party
: ibid.

Friends thought Valerie seemed jealous
: ibid.

“the
fact
of Speed”
: Erica Heller in an e-mail to the author, February 19, 2010.

“Life is pretty good”
: John Cornwall, “What's the Catch?”
The Sunday Times
(London), September 18, 1994.

“I'm gripped by the somber realization”
: Sylvia Rothchild, “In a New Book, Joseph Heller Remembers Where He Comes From: Despite Oxford Fellowship, Accent on Brooklyn,”
Jewish Advocate,
April 23, 1998; posted at
highbeam.com
.

“I don't think he knows himself”
: Paula Span, “Catch-23; For Joseph Heller, A Late-Life Summing Up,”
Washington Post,
September 29, 1994.

“I feel like the malevolent witch at the party”
: This and subsequent remarks from Heller's talk, “The Literature of Despair,” were delivered at “The F. Scott Fitzgerald Centenary Celebration,” September 24–26, 1996, University of South Carolina; text posted at
sc.edu/fitzgerald/centenary.proceedings.html
.

“[T]he game is over”
: D. T. Max, “The Twilight of the Old Goats,”
Salon,
May 1997; posted at
salon.com/may97/goats970516.html
.

“amazing similarity of characters”
: This quote and Heller's and Gottlieb's comments regarding the controversy over the Falstein novel are from Michael Mewshaw, “New Questions Dog ‘Catch-22'; Joseph Heller Defends Originality of '61 Classic”:
Washington Post,
April 27, 1998.

In a follow-up article on the matter, after Heller's death, Michael Mewhaw concluded that “there are indeed fundamental similarities between Catch-22 and The Sky is a Lonely Place.… While they don't rise to the level of plagiarism, they do suggest that Heller might have been aware of Falstein's work.… [He may have] written an oblique homage to Falstein.… Of course, in a universe of pure contingency where chaos reigns … it's perhaps perfectly possible that two men … would write hauntingly similar novels.… Talk about Catch-22!” See Mike Mewshaw, “Too Easy to Catch Heller Out?”
Jerusalem Post,
December 31, 1999.

“books are widely disparate”
: Mel Gussow, “Critic's Notebook: Questioning the Provenance of the Iconic ‘Catch-22,'”
New York Times,
April 29, 1998; posted at
nytimes.com/1998/04/29/books/critic-s-notebook-questioning-the-provenance-of-the-iconic-catch-22.html
.

“capitalist cool”
: This was an
FYI
slogan.

“old-fashioned ideas”
: Sally Vincent, “Portrait: Catch-94,”
The Guardian,
September 24, 1994.

“strange turbulent undercurrents”
: This and subsequent quotes from the interview are in Lynn Barber, “Bloody Heller,”
The Observer,
March 1, 1998; posted at
guardian.co.uk/books/1998/mar/01/fiction.josephheller
.

“No. We don't have one”
: Molly Watson, “Releasing a Rat into the New York Jet Set: Ted Heller, Son of Joseph,”
Evening Standard
(London), February 9, 2000; posted at
highbeam.com
.

“Every time [Warhol mentioned] a famous name”
: Ted Heller's comment was made during an interview with Terry Gross for National Public Radio's “Fresh Air” (WHYY-FM), March 23, 2000.

“I sort of have a reputation”
: ibid.

“So we were sitting by Joe's pool one day”
: Deborah Karl in conversation with the author, April 18, 2009.

“People would phone”
: Dolores Karl in conversation with the author, April 24, 2009.

“instead of shying away”
: This and subsequent quotes and details regarding the 1999 cruise to Norway's Arctic region are from Diane Armstrong, “Heller Frozen Over,”
The Guardian,
March 27, 1999; posted at
guardian.co.uk/theguardian/1999/mar/27/weekend7.weekend3
.

“What next, then?”; “The artificer who lives long enough”
: Joseph Heller,
Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), pp. 19, 20–21.

“incredibly expressive”
: Lois Smith Brady, “Weddings: Vows; Erica Heller, Ronald van den Boogaard,”
New York Times,
November 28, 1999; posted at
nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res= 9B01EEDF143FF93BA15752C1A96F958260
.

“That evening he was sweet-tempered and subdued”
: Arthur Gelb quoted in
Salon,
text posted at
salon.com/people/obit/1999/12/13/Heller
.

“expressed horror”
: George Mandel's remarks were made at “Joseph Heller: A Celebration,” a memorial service held at the New York Society for Ethical Culture on June 13, 2000. Transcribed by the author from a video recording (courtesy of Erica Heller).

“Joe was on the phone”
: Valerie Heller's remarks were written for “Joseph Heller: A Celebration.”

“That night … he became my patient again”
: ibid.

“Valerie called us at about five
a.m.”
: Dolores Karl in conversation with the author, April 24, 2009.

“Oh God, this is a calamity”
: Duncan Campbell, “Joseph Heller Is Dead at the Age of 76,”
The Guardian,
December 14, 1999; posted at
guardian.co.uk/books/1999/dec/14/josephheller
.

“[As a novelist,] he wasn't top of the chart”
: Nicholas Roe, “Indiscreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie; Nicholas Roe Discovers That the Prolonged and Amazing Creative Life of John Updike Is Alive and Well,”
Canberra Times
(Australia), January 29, 2000.

“I will miss reading the books he didn't write”
: Rosemary Herbert, “Heller Remembered for His Philosophical Dimension,”
Boston Herald,
December 14, 1999.

“I could hardly believe my eyes”
: Erica Heller in an e-mail to the author, February 19, 2010.

“When we left the grave site”
: Jerry McQueen in an e-mail to the author, July 29, 2009.

EPILOGUE: CLEANING HOUSE

“Two weeks [after my father died]”
: Ted Heller's comments were made during an interview with Terry Gross for National Public Radio's “Fresh Air” (WHYY-FM), March 23, 2000.

called the novel “embarrassing”
: Michiko Kakutani, “Joseph Heller's Valedictory Holds a Mirror to Himself,”
New York Times,
May 30, 2000.

“sardonic little abdication address”
: Tim Adams, “What's the Catch?”
The Observer,
July 30, 2000; posted at
guardian.co.uk/books/2000/jul/30/fiction.josephheller
.