Two 'Literary' Josephs, One Birthday, 250 Years Apart! ❤️

Joseph Addison & Joseph Heller

#onhisbirthdaytoday

Two Josephs! 250 years apart from each other!

Yet two pioneering writers in their own right - were born on this day – 1st May! 😊

Joseph Addison was an English essayist, poet, and politician who lived during the Enlightenment. His uniqueness lies in how he completely revolutionised the English prose style! Moreover, he is also considered the pioneer of the periodical essay. He along with his friend Richard Steele, founded The Spectator in 1711, in which he used to write short, engaging daily essays meant to be read over coffee. 😉

Quite interestingly, before Addison, philosophy and literature were often reserved for the aristocracy and academics. Addison’s goal was to bring “philosophy out of closets and libraries, schools and colleges, to dwell in clubs and assemblies, at tea-tables and in coffee-houses.” In this regard, he has the claim to fame for having democratised intellectual thought, and made it available to the masses.

Fast forward to the 20th century, and we find Joseph Heller, an American author, who through his writing, “captured the maddening, illogical nature of modern bureaucracy and war”.

Very few authors have invented phrases that have become a rage across the world. Heller did this with his 1961 masterpiece, Catch-22 – which means, a situation in which someone is trapped by contradictory rules (e.g., you need experience to get a job, but you need a job to get experience).

In fact, Catch-22 is one of the funniest and most horrifying books ever written. Heller uses dark, absurdist humour to expose the sheer madness of war! The characters constantly have repetitive, mind-bending conversations that go nowhere, perfectly mirroring the feeling of being trapped in a bureaucratic nightmare. Reminded of Big Brother here? 😉

Coming back,

Both writers were master observers of the societies in which they lived in. While Addison looked at 18th-century London and said,

“Let’s use gentle wit to teach these people how to be civilised,”

Heller looked at 20th-century global conflict and said,

“Let’s use dark comedy to show people that civilisation is a myth”.