Critics
- Author: Joseph Heller
- Year: 1961
- Genre: Dark comedy, war fiction
- Pages: 450
Fifty years after its original publication, Catch-22 remains a cornerstone of American literature and one of the funniest--and most celebrated--books of all time. In recent years it has been named to "best novels" lists by Time, Newsweek, the Modern Library, and the London Observer.
Blurb
Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy--it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he's assigned, he'll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.
Topics Covered
Phrases
Catch-22
“It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth.”
“He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt.”
“Insanity is contagious.”
Topics CoveredAbsurdity and ParadoxWar and BureaucracyDeath and MeaninglessnessThe Loss of Humanity
Catch-22
Harry Conquest
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Transcript
Critics
Fifty years after its original publication, Catch-22 remains a cornerstone of American literature and one of the funniest--and most celebrated--books of all time. In recent years it has been named to "best novels" lists by Time, Newsweek, the Modern Library, and the London Observer.
Blurb
Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy--it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he's assigned, he'll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.
Topics Covered
Phrases
Catch-22
“It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth.”
“He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt.”
“Insanity is contagious.”
Topics CoveredAbsurdity and ParadoxWar and BureaucracyDeath and MeaninglessnessThe Loss of Humanity