“Every writer I know has trouble writing.” – Joseph Heller
Born in New York City on May Day, 1923 Heller was an unknown writer when he pitched his manuscript for Catch-22 to editor Joseph Gottlieb at Simon & Schuster. While unsure about the book’s concept, Gottlieb decided to give it a chance and the rest, of course, is history. Catch-22 not only became one of the all-time bestselling novels, but also a successful movie and permanent term in the world's lexicon.
Catch-22 refers to absurd no-win choices, particularly in situations where, regardless of the choice, a negative outcome is a certainty. A simplified example would be: To apply for a certain job, you need to have experience in that job. But in order to gain that experience you first need to get the job.
Heller wrote the book to reflect some of the absurdities he saw while serving in World War II. He intended to call it Catch-18, but found out author Leon Uris was about to publish his book Milas 18. To avoid confusion, Heller changed his title and two “stars” – himself as a writer and his title – were born.
His second novel Something Happened also was a bestseller and he was off and running in a stellar writing career. Despite the accolades he earned, Heller never considered himself famous.
“I want to keep my dreams, even the bad ones,” he said, “because without them, I might have nothing all night long.”
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