Something

Happened

by Michael (‘hesslcr
Book Editor
JOSEPH HELLER. SOMFTIIING
HAPPENED Alfred A. Knopf,
\' \\ Vurk: t, 565) pp.

. it is surely an auspicious
beginning tor a new book to be
hailed as a classic, but it seems to
me that in the case of Joseph
Heller’s second novel, Something
liappcncd, there is no avoiding this
statement, Over a decade in the
making, this remarkable work
leaves one breathless. As a major
contribution to American
literature. Heller succeeds in
capturing so much, perhaps too
much, of contemporary experience

diet the reader will not be able to
avoid leaving the iirst reading
unaffected.

Although at the outset I am
making it quite clear that i liked
the book, this is not the type novel
that one likes or dislikes, Rather.
you are shocked.

Heller has given us a work with a
iairly thin “story line” or plot, so
ior those who plan to venture upon
pleasurable reading without
substance and with a good story,

us is not die book to read. But for
those who want to share the ex-
perience of the novel's hero (or
rather antishero) Bob Slocum, the
throes of our modern life, with
allusions and references that will
keep literary critics busy tor a
while, this is the book to read

Bob Slocum

Bob Slocum narrates the story.
Heller for Slocum) does not make
us aware of his name until we are
well into the second section of the
novel. And this, apparently, is tor

and reason. Slocum, while he is

ery much his own man, is also

very much allpeople. without
pressing the point, Slocum
emerges irom his individuality to a
very patent generality

In his middle forties, Slocum is a
minor executive tor a company
that is never named (not to protect
the innocent but to preserve the
effect), has three children and a
mildly or occasionally successful
marriage. His daughter is

unhappy," his son is “having
difficulties,” and his second son is
born an idiot, Almost a typical
American iamily. Almost.

Slocum philosophizes, narrates
and comments on his family,
friends and job. He bares his life in
an odd way, examining and con-
sidering a point and then
reexamining and reconsidering it
later, His observations Strike us
not as an odd man's musings, but
rather as an expression oi our
"ivilization. The thoughts and
Jeas he entertains are not always

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those that the reader might have
had, but oitcn enough they ring too
close to home for the non-passive
reader to avoid a degree or cm»
patlly,

AmericanCivilization

Upon being notified of his
promotion:

“l've got bad feet I’ve got a
jawbone that's deteriorating and
someday soon I’m going to have all
my teeth pulled. It will hurt, I’ve
got an unhappy ivite to support and
two unhappy children to take care
of (I’ve got thateother child with
irremcdiable brain damage who is
neither happy nor unhappy, and I
don't know whatwill happen to him
after we're dead.) . . , I’ve got
anxiety; lsuppress hysteria . . .
l’ve got crime in my streets I've
got old age to iace. My boy, '“ough
only nine, is already worried
because he does not know what he
wants to be when he grows up My
daughter tells lics. I’ve got the
decline of American civilization
and the guilt and ineptitude of the
whole government of the United
states to carry around on these
poor shoulders of mine ”

“And I find I am being groomed
for a better job,"

“And I find—God help meithat I
Want it,”

Tone of the Novel

The preceeding is the general
tone of the novel with varying
areas of concentration, Slocum
gives us a run down of his life and
milieu: his oiiice, tamily (each
given a section), and his particular
problems tvariously throughout
the book) with special attention
given to his sex liic (to emphasize
its place and perhaps perverse
importance in American tor all)
life).

Slocum continues, almost to the
point of excess. to reveal himself.
He is indecisive, unconsciously
copies others, “I oiten wonder
what my own true nature is,” and
feels himself left in a void from the
affects of the post WWII world.

One could say that Something
llappciicd picks up where Catch-22
left off. We are transferred from
the horrors of war to the more
subtle (are they?) horrors oi
peace.

Lift-'5 Continuini
Reinforces Itself

“She (Slocum’s mother) suf»
fered her first in her series of
crippling brain spasms that robbed
her at the outset of her ability to
speak and at the end oi her ability
to think or remember. As my
mother iadcd away, speachless, in
one direction, Derek (his son)
emerged, speechless, irom the
other And there you, have my

Hey! — Drop in

%

O’Conor:

fame, but
wrong name

To the Editor:
i appreciate the frontrpage
recognition in Nov. 29 issue ol thc
Scarict and inark, but my last
name is spelled with one “u". not

two. Sloppy journalisnll
Dim O'Conor

CATCH-22

+
19 Years

tragic chronicle oi the continuity oi
human experience, oi this great
chain of being, and the sad legacy
oi pain and repudiation that one
generation oi Slocums gets and
gives to another, at least in my
day." And so on.
What Happened?

So, with the end in sight the
reader asks what happened and
what happens As to the telling,
pivotal event. which does not occur
until twenty pages beiorc the
novel's end, you must read the
book. A minor cvent perhaps, but
important enough to somehow put
Slocum and his tamily on their
feet, morally and emotionally, As
to what happens, why thesc people
are the way they are (why we are
the way we are), Slocum iails to
sec because his is more involved
with the recitation oi the par.
ticularsthan any comprehension oi
the whole. it is the evolution oi the
individual that culminates in its
inevitable seli destruction. Why, or
how? Once again, read the book.

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GRINNELL
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CENTER

nan O'Cnnor treks along the route to thc toruin during last wcrk-s
spell as a iniryland, created by unusual iog and ironing weather
conditions. Since the 8&8 misspelled your name inst uni-k. nan, wc
hope that thc correct spelling in this week's issue is_ some coin-

pciisation.

Gay is

photo by Michael Gelberl

as gay does

by Richard Cleaver

There is much discussion here
and elsewhere about the exact
meaning or the word “gay” in a
homosexual context, and cons
troversy over who deserves to be
sheltered under its comiorting
blanket. To delve into this matter
in all its complexity here would be
tedious at best, but i do wish to
make some remarks on the subs
iect.

The origin oi the word’s usage in
the present sense is rather ob-
scure, No precise etymology can
be given, although it is certain that
its hrst use was as a kind oi
password within the American gay
subculture oi the 1930's tor covert
identification oi iellow
homosexuals. How the word calne
to acquire this new meaning is
unknown, but oi several
possibilities I preier the theory
that it was adopted as a descriptive
term tor the lively underground
lite otthe subculture, a lite that
was the more gay tin the root sense
oi the word) because oi the hideous
traumata oi the oppression then
virtually universal. Unable to have
any satisiying public lives as gays,
they turned to one another and
expressed themselves secretly in
iree and irivoious, and gay,
gatherings,

This underground life still
flourishes, less hidden it is true (it
is even a tourist attraction in some
places), but still retaining the
qualities of a true subculture, This
is despite the disapproval oi many
“movement” gays, who regard its
dedication to enjoyment as
apathetic and rind inany oi its
practices, notably drag (costume
in general, and cross-dressing in
particular), as tending to alienate
straights and undermine the
seriousness of the struggle

This notion is not only false, it is
pernicious Sclemnity is beginning
to drown us. We must use the
weapons which are peculiarly ours
to win our place without losing
ourselves. We must make our
contribution to a pluralistic society
by iostcring a rich subculture. We
must assert our pride in being gay
in deiiance oi oppression, We must
refuse to succumb to the general
tendency to take ourselves and
everyone else too seriously, by
constantly mocking our own iaults
and others', for such theater is
what we do best.

So the gay lifestyle is coming to
Grinnell in all its madness. The
gay subculture will be increasingly
visible and I invite you all to enjoy
it with me. It gay is good, let us be
say.

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