Understanding Joseph Heller

Sanford Pinsker (Author), Matthew J. Bruccoli (Series edited by)

9781570038402

Paperback / softback, published 3 September 2009

232 pages
20 x 12.4 x 2 cm, 0.229 kg

Nicely balancing description with discovery, Pinsker's lively and wide-ranging study not only examines the themes and rhetorical strategies through which Heller projects his satiric vision but also locates them within the cultural context that both shapes our literature and determines, in part, what it is capable of. - Modern Fiction Studies

This is a critical survey of the complete body of work by the author of ""Catch-22"". In this revised edition, Sanford Pinsker explores the idiosyncratic vision that permeates Heller's writings, as he maps the dark terrain Heller carved out, novel by novel, with considerable verbal dazzle and the uncompromising outrage of the classical satirist. This updated edition includes new chapters on Closing Time, the sequel to ""Catch-22""; ""Now and Then"", Heller's memoir of growing up in Brooklyn; Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man, his posthumously published novel; and ""Catch as Catch Can"", a collection of assorted short stories and sketches.