by Richard Hooker (Uncertain)
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There’s a book in the Suite 3 bookcase, bottom shelf (yellow), that looks like it could be Richard Hooker’s MASH. If not, then the title would still be something like NASH or WASH or HASH. So I think that makes a fairly strong case. Especially considering the number of other military themed materials in the film (Bomber Pilot will be on the nightstand across the room in just a few scenes), and considering that Catch-22 (probably the other most famous military comedy of the 20th century) appeared on the shelf in the beginning. Or even the Burda Moden magazine here.
The novel was apparently heavily edited by a co-writer, Heinz, who took out a lot of the gallows humour and brought more cohesion to the story, of which there was very little at first. I wonder if this is another nod to Kubrick’s revising of King’s story. The main character is also a war surgeon, a “doc”. The cover of the novel also features a set of twin doctors—Duke and Hawkeye, presumably—and a patient toasting the sky with a wine glass (alcoholism vs. religion, etc.). It also features the doctors playing with a variety of sports objects, and it references Catch-22. Also, both it and Catch-22 had a film version come out in 1970. Also, the movie MASH (1970) was directed by Robert Altman, and as we’ll discuss elsewhere, Shelley Duvall got her start in Altman’s Brewster McCloud (also 1970). A comedy about a young man trying to build machine wings to help him fly. Also, the film version of MASH, famously starred Elliott Gould, which would add a dash of “Gould” to the Suite 3 bedroom, while Gould is quite a feature of room 237.
Also, I haven’t properly ID’d it, but on the second shelf, two books over from Wendy, is a book that could be To Kill A Mockingbird. The spine definitely features a bird perched on a branch. But I can’t find a vintage edition with that design (though most searchable books don’t show the spine). The best evidence that that book would appear at all would perhaps be that the 1962 film version was directed by Robert Mulligan, who also directed Summer of ’42, the film that Wendy and Danny watch early on, together, which was one of Kubrick’s favourite films, according to his wife (and it is pretty great, you should check it out, along with numerous other Mulligan films). Also, mockingbirds helped in the formation of the theory of evolution, which could bring evolution into Suite 3, similar to how we found it in room 237.
Next literary reference: BusinessWeek
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