Typically brilliant - tough but fair - analysis from Chris Uhlmann : At the heart of Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22 is a brilliant paradox: if you plead insanity to avoid suicidal bombing missions then you must be sane and can't be excused. "There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the...
Review of Look at the Birdie. By Kurt Vonnegut. Delacorte Press, 251 pps., $27.00 Posthumous publishing could be called the business of endings. It often...
Antony Beevor has written both novels and non-fiction. His new book is D-Day: The Battle for Normandy.For the Wall Street Journal, he named a five best list of works of fiction about World War II.One title on the list:Catch-22by Joseph HellerSimon & Schuster, 1961"Catch-22" is probably the most devastating satire ever written about the lunacy of war and military bureaucracy. Set in Italy...
+IHS+ On the Age of the Earth You can be a good Catholic and hold that the universe is thousands or millions or billions or trillions or quadrillions or other numbers of years old. The Church does not teach any particular age or age-range for the earth or the cosmos. You can follow the evidence where you think it leads. This is because the Magisterium has determined that the question of the ages of...
It would appear that even prolific writers of longtime standing and regard in the craft sometimes find themselves lost in their work, wondering how good it is, if it is, and why they put themselves through such grief. They seem to encounter their own unique Rodney Dangerfield moments whereby they feel they don’t get no respect, no respect at all. Yet for all their angst and struggle, they
A couple of different clips (from the 1980s? Not sure.) are compiled in this 5 minute video of Paul Krassner interviews. From the Film Archive description, a bio of Mr. Krassner: Paul Krassner (born April 9, 1932) is an author, journalist, stand-up comedian, and the founder, editor and a frequent contributor to the freethought magazine The Realist, first published in 1958. The Realist, edited and published...
Last Tuesday I headed off to see my dad in hospital once again. I drove this time as now my dad is in the Panteg hospital public transport is inadequate. That seemed to suit me better. Certainly not being in Newport or Cwmbran where there are so many people was less depressing I think. I also listened to music and not the radio so much, which may have helped. There were a lot of nice little providences...
Philippa Brangam writing for VINGT Paris Among the Art's Arena's rich calendar for this fall is an evening with renowned editor Robert Gottleib on Tuesday 17th November. With over 50 years experience in publishing, Gottleib has edited around 1000 books...
Creating a satire on your own culture is a doubled-bladed dagger. Satirists seldom become lionized or praised for their efforts as pointing out failures and dangers and the ridiculous presence of deluded emperors wearing invisible clothes tends to invoke more embarrassment than wisdom or appreciation. Sometimes greatness is achieved - most readers and critics still applaud Joseph Heller's "Catch-22"...
There's a bit in Joseph Heller's " Catch-22 " where Captain Black runs something he calls the "Glorious Loyalty Oath Campaign", where everyone in the squadron finds themselves forced to sign oaths pledging their loyalty in order to get absolutely anything or everything: " Almost overnight the Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade was in full flower, and Captain Black was enraptured...
A clickable index of titles covered so far... 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C Clarke A Against Nature by Joris-Karl Huysmans Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol l All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie Appointment in Samarra by John O’Hara Arden of Faversham, possibly by William Shakespeare Around the World in Eighty...
So, we're starting to get some tantalizing glimpses of the where the publishing industry is likely to be in the next couple of years. First of all, Publishers Marketplace reoprted last week on former HarperCollins boss, Jane Friedman who officially announced her new venture Open Road Integrated Media at Frankfurt, though the unit was first reported on in August when her funding of $3 million was disclosed....
So Salman Rushdie came to Winnipeg to give a lecture. I went. I lost the little green notebook I’ve been taking notes in for the past few months. Including the lecture tonight. Selah. Here’s what I remember: He talked a lot about literature. Moreso than I thought he would. I’d have thought it would be a more [...]
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