Reply #16: I admire the fiction and poetry of . . .

[Journeyman]

Edgar Alan Poe, Louis Ferdinand Celine, and John Kennedy Toole . . . however, the first was an alcoholic drug addict, the second a notorious anti-semite, and the third eventually committed suicide his mental problems were so vast. None of this discredits my appreciation of their art or my desire to find similar expression in my own work. But I certainly have no desire to drug myself in pursuit of beauty, embrace demonstrable evil in the search for social understanding, or trade my mind or life for the creation of a masterpiece.

In Catch-22, Yossarian is caught up in the genious of The Soldier Who Saw Everything Twice and his ability to twist the system and the hospital to his needs. When The Soldier Who Saw Everything Twice screamed his obsession the doctors jumped to aid him, as they did when Yossarian claimed to See Everything Twice as well. When The Soldier Who Saw Everything Twice demanded that the walls be pushed back, the hospital staff did their best to make extra room for him, just as they did for Yossarian when he threw up his arms and shouted his alarm about the Walls, the Walls. But when The Soldier Who Saw Everything Twice died, Yossarian decided he'd followed him far enough and would have to find another means to stay out of the war. It's the same with all heroes who have feet of clay: emulate 'em, don't worship 'em.