crying and frying

[Steven Maas (CUTR)]

Diana York Blaine sez:
> I'm planning a seminar next term on death, mourning and suicide in
> literature.  Someone mentioned Werther--any other suggestions?  I
> thought maybe Hamlet and Gerald's Party, inter alia. I'm not limited by
> genre, period or geography. 

I've always thought Heller's depictions of death in _Catch 22_ (e.g.,
Snowden, the soldier in white, the girl that Aarfy throws out of a window,
Kid Sampson, etc. etc.) provide either a blow to the solar plexus or to
the funny bone, in some cases both at once. 

	Steve