February 26, 1980

Joseph Heller, author of Catch-22 (1961), Something Happened (1974) and Good as Gold (1979), lectured and read from his books in Skinner Hall. “All my novels,” he said, “are the story of a single individual who has difficulty relating to his environment.” The hero of his most recent book, Bruce Gold, he told The Miscellany News, based “on my own perceptions of myself,” was a college professor who “had no office hours, kept no appointments and favored those students who dropped his courses before the start of the semester…. The only difference between me and Gold is that I’m successful and he’s not.”

The uncredited writer of the screenplay of the James Bond spoof Casino Royal (1969), Heller adapted Catch 22 for the stage in 1973.