Joseph Heller Interview (Lawrence Grobel)

Lawrence Grobel has been a freelance writer for thirty years,Playboy calls him "the interviewer's interviewer." He sat down with Joseph Heller early in his career:

Lawrence: "Do you have an audience in mind when you're writing?"

Joseph Heller: "Yes, somebody who has a taste like my own. It's true of Catch-22 and it's true of Something Happened. Each book is the kind of book I'd enjoy reading if somebody else had written it. The books are vastly different from each other. Catch-22 was read and enjoyed by people who were much younger than I was, with less education, less interest in literature than I have. The people who buy my books are interest in serious reading, even though the works themselves are humorous and funny. Not for a reader who's interested in plot or erotic literature. There's a lot of sex in both books, but the erotic element is played down."

Endangered Species, Writers Talk About Their Craft, Their Visions, Their Lives
by Lawrence Grobel
Published by DA CAPO Press (c) 2001
page 222