By
– August 24, 2011
Joseph Heller emerges from this excellent biography as dark a figure as he was beforehand. This is not to say that Daugherty sheds no light on his subject, only that even fully lit, Heller is not a particularly pleasant or admirable human being. It is useful to learn that he came by his curmudgeonly character honestly, but that understanding does not make him significantly more likable or interesting.
If this book has a flaw, it is Daugherty’s overwrought attempt to elevate the critical reputation of virtually everything Heller wrote. There is no doubt that Heller’s first novel, Catch-22, is a classic of American literature, but despite Daugherty’s pleading it is difficult to classify Heller as a great writer. Nothing he wrote after Catch-22 came close to his masterpiece, and toward the end of his career many critics rightfully dismissed him as completely written-out. A fine writer himself, Daugherty is at his best when evoking the worlds Heller inhabited through the course of his life: Coney Island in the 1930’s, the Catskills in the 1940’s, the Manhattan literary scene and Heller’s East Hampton retreat from it in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Of particular interest are the details of how changes in the publishing industry over the course of Heller’s career affected his writing. As a virtual unknown, Heller earned relatively little from Catch-22.Many of his later projects were motivated primarily by an unabashed need and desire to cash in on his reputation, and the increasingly corporatized world of publishing was increasingly able and willing to help. The money came, but at a price.
If this book has a flaw, it is Daugherty’s overwrought attempt to elevate the critical reputation of virtually everything Heller wrote. There is no doubt that Heller’s first novel, Catch-22, is a classic of American literature, but despite Daugherty’s pleading it is difficult to classify Heller as a great writer. Nothing he wrote after Catch-22 came close to his masterpiece, and toward the end of his career many critics rightfully dismissed him as completely written-out. A fine writer himself, Daugherty is at his best when evoking the worlds Heller inhabited through the course of his life: Coney Island in the 1930’s, the Catskills in the 1940’s, the Manhattan literary scene and Heller’s East Hampton retreat from it in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Of particular interest are the details of how changes in the publishing industry over the course of Heller’s career affected his writing. As a virtual unknown, Heller earned relatively little from Catch-22.Many of his later projects were motivated primarily by an unabashed need and desire to cash in on his reputation, and the increasingly corporatized world of publishing was increasingly able and willing to help. The money came, but at a price.
Bill Brennan is an independent scholar and entertainer based in Las Vegas. Brennan has taught literature and the humanities at Princeton and The University of Chicago. He holds degrees from Yale, Princeton, and Northwestern.
