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Joseph Heller was the author of Catch-22. Catch-22 was a famous work published after WW2 that became highly successfully and critically praised. This novel offers a different insight on war and the people affected by it.
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Heller graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School.
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This is where he flew 60 combat missions as a bombardier. His unit was the 488th Bombardment Squadron, 340th Bomb Group, 12th Air Force
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After the war, Heller studied English at the University of Southern California and NYU on the G.I. Bill.
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He first published in 1948 when the Atlantic ran one of his short stories.
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Got his degree in English from Comlumbia University.
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He moved to England to study at Oxford for two years.
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Heller taught composition at Pennsylvania State University for two years.
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While sitting at home one morning in 1953, Heller thought of the lines, "It was love at first sight. The first time he saw the chaplain, [Yossarian] fell madly in love with him."
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The initial chapter was published in 1955 as "Catch-18", in Issue 7 of New World Writing.
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It took nearly a decade of writing it before it was finally completed.
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The novel initially had mixed reviews.
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This is the year when the novel started catching the attentions of Baby Boomers.
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Completed writing the play in only 6 weeks.
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This left him temporarily paralysed. He was bedridden for a year until transfer to another hospital.
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Heller returned to St. Catherine's as a visiting Fellow, for a term, in 1991 and was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the college.
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This was his second wife who he was married to up until his death.
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He relived his childhood as the son of a deliveryman and offered some details about the inspirations for Catch-22.
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On hearing of Heller's death, his friend Kurt Vonnegut said, "Oh, God, how terrible. This is a calamity for American literature."
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Heller spent this year working as a blacksmith's apprentice, a messenger boy, and a filing clerk.
