Paul Lockman asked Derek B. Miller:

Dear Derek, congratulations on Norwegian by Night, I just finished it and though it was a brilliant debut novel. In my review I described what I thought was a 'Catch-22' like scene with Donny and Mario talking about shooting Koreans. Were you influenced at all by that great novel? My second question, is your wife Norwegian? You seemed to have some very perceptive insights into Norwegian culture.

Derek B. Miller Dear Paul: Thanks for the kind words. I've glad you liked the book. I've wondered about Heller's influence on me and I still wonder about it. In one way — sure, absolutely. But there's more to it. I surely saw 300 episodes of MASH before I actually read Catch-22 (which of course was directly inspired by it). So there's also that. But I also think that Heller (and I, and many others) are drawing from some original Jewish source material anchored in an attuned eye for the absurd and a nearly pathological incapacity NOT to draw attention to it. I discuss this at length here: https://bookpage.com/interviews/20812...

My wife is indeed Norwegian and we live in Oslo. The things I know about Norwegians could fill a novel …

All the best,

Derek

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