Catch-22

For other uses, see Catch-22 (disambiguation).

Image:Catch22 cover.jpg

Catch-22

Catch-22 is a 1961 novel by American novelist Joseph Heller.

Although primarily classified as an anti-war novel, Catch-22 is also a critique of bureaucracy in general. The phrase "catch-22" has come into common use to mean a cyclical conundrum, or "no-win situation" based on its meaning in the book as described below. A Catch-22 situation is also inherently self-defeating: the very act of performing it prevents it from happening. (Main article: catch-22 (logic))

The novel follows Captain Yossarian, a fictional World War II US Army Air Corps B-25 bombardier, and a number of other American airmen during World War II. They are based on the island of Pianosa, west of Italy.

A magazine excerpt from the novel was originally published as "Catch-18," but Heller changed the title after another World War II novel, Leon Uris's Mila 18, was published.

The pacing of Catch 22 is frenetic, its tenor is intellectual, and its humor is largely absurdist — but with grisly moments of realism interspersed. As the Czech writer Arnošt Lustig recounts in his latest book 3x18, Joseph Heller personally told him that he would never have written Catch-22 had he not first read The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek. Some would also trace the influences on Catch-22 to the novel, A Fable, by William Faulkner

A sequel to Catch-22, Closing Time, was written by Heller and published in 1994.

It can never be told with certainty if the novel was meant to have any more meaning than mere caricature, but it is also true that the underlying pun in the caricature is hard-hitting and insanely ironic.

1 "Catch-22" in the novel
2 The film
3 Characters in the book
4 See also
5 External links

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"Catch-22" in the novel

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Within the book, "catch-22" is a military rule, the circular logic of which most notably prevents anyone from avoiding combat missions:

One may only be excused from flying bombing missions on the grounds of insanity;
One must assert one's insanity to be excused on this basis;
One who requests to be excused is presumably in fear for his life. This is taken to be proof of his sanity, and he is therefore obliged to continue flying missions;
One who is truly insane presumably would not make the request. He therefore would continue flying missions, even though as an insane person he could of course be excused from them simply by asking.

As in the above example, much of Heller's prose in Catch-22 is circular and repetitive, exemplifying in its form the structure of a catch-22.

Catch-22 is also invoked at other points in the novel to justify various other actions. At one point, victims of harassment by military agents quote the agents as having explained one of Catch-22's most macabre and rococo provisions in this fashion: Catch-22 states that agents enforcing Catch-22 need not prove that Catch-22 actually contains whatever provision the accused violator is accused of violating. An old woman explains: "Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can’t stop them from doing." Yossarian comes to realize that Catch-22 doesn't actually exist, but that because the powers that be claim it does and the world believes that it does, it nevertheless has potent effects. Indeed, it is worse than if it had existed because there is no way it can be repealed, undone, overthrown, or denounced. The combination of brute force with specious legalistic justification is one of the book's primary motifs.

Another theme is that of the folly of patriotism and honor, which leads most of the airmen to accept Catch-22s and being lied to by abusive bureaucrats, but which Yossarian never accepts as a legitimate answer to his complaints.

One of the many strange aspects of this book is that, despite the fact that the (official) villains are the Germans, no German soldiers ever actually appear in the story. As the narrative progresses, Yossarian comes to fear American bureaucrats more than he fears the Germans attempting to shoot down his bomber.

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The film

Catch-22 was adapted into a motion picture in 1970. Mike Nichols was the director; the screenplay was written by Buck Henry, who also acted in the film.

Along with Henry, the cast included Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Art Garfunkel, Jack Gilford, Bob Newhart, Anthony Perkins, Paula Prentiss, Martin Sheen, Jon Voight, and Orson Welles. It was not regarded as a great success, earning less money and acclaim than M*A*S*H, another war-themed black comedy from the same year.

The adaptation to film changed the book's plot substantially. Several story arcs are left out, and many characters in the movie speak the dialogue and experience the events of other characters in the book. This significantly alters the implications of some events.

However, the film's editing does preserve the book's fragmented structure, making associative leaps rather than conventional transitions from episode to episode.

Despite these changes, Heller approved of the film, according to a commentary by Nichols and Steven Soderbergh included on a DVD release. According to Nichols, Heller was particularly impressed with a few scenes and bits of dialogue Henry created for the film, and said he wished he could have included them in the novel.

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Characters in the book

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External links

Catch-22 at the Internet Movie Database cs:Hlava XXII

de:Catch-22 he:מלכוד 22 ja:キャッチ=22 pl:Paragraf 22 sv:Moment 22 zh:第22条军规

Catch-22

Contents

"Catch-22" in the novel

The film

Characters in the book

See also

External links