Word: slocum
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...years ago Heller explained: "The hero is the antithesis of Yossarian-20 years later." Of his Syrian-American bombardier in Catch-22 he had written: "It was a vile and muddy war, and Yossarian could have lived without it-lived forever, perhaps." Of his WASP business executive, Bob Slocum, in Something Happened, Heller might have written: It was a vile and muddy peace, and Slocum was dying of it-dying in slow motion...
With 100 little winks, grimaces and ha-has, Slocum describes (and mercilessly redescribes) himself and his life in a flat pattern of total recall. He is a reasonably handsome man in his 40s -wavy hair that is thinning, a paunch that is growing. In the office he is "cordial and considerate to just about everybody." He has "this wretched habit" of acquiring the characteristics of the last person he has been talking to-a stutter, a tic, even a limp...
...private life, if it can be called that, Slocum is a petty tyrant presiding over the standard domain: first a New York apartment, then a Connecticut house; a plumpish but svelte wife who drinks; a contentious 15-year-old daughter; a couple of younger sons, one braindamaged; and a constantly changing succession of maids. On the whole, he feels more at home in the office: "I don't think I've ever had a good tune on a vacation. (I'm not sure I've ever had a good time anywhere...
...like gray suits and regimental ties, is approved by the company. In his wallet Slocum carries a coded list of the names of 23 girls-the interchangeable inhabitants of his third world. Joylessly he fornicates. He finds "close relationships suffocating." He warns: "A friend in need is no friend of mine...
...problems was to keep the kids' dialogue from sounding like his own children, and he points out that some characters are drawn from colleagues during his years in advertising and promotion at Time Inc., Look and McCall's. "I guess I am a little like Slocum," he finally admits. "I suffer from a fundamental lack of confidence. I don't like speed or excitement. I won't go 65 miles an hour because I worry about a tire going flat. When I go swimming, the surf is a little too rough for me." And, he says...