Catch-22
From BookJive
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| Author: | Joseph Heller |
| Publisher: | Simon and Schuster; S and S Classic Ed edition |
| Published: | |
| Pages: | 416 |
| ISBN-10: | 684865130 |
| Category: | Array |
Contents |
[edit] Introduction
Catch-22 is a satirical, historical fiction novel by American author Joseph Heller, first published in 1961. The novel, set during the latter stages of the Second World War from 1943 onwards, is frequently cited as one of the great literary works of the Twentieth Century.
[edit] Summary
The novel follows Captain John Yossarian, a United States Army Air Corps B-25 bombardier, and a number of other characters. Most events occur while the airmen of the Fighting 256th (or "two to the fighting eighth power") Squadron are based on the island of Pianosa, west of Italy. Many events in the book are repeatedly described from differing points of view, so the reader learns more about the event from each iteration. Furthermore, the events are referred to as if the reader already knows all about them. The pacing of Catch-22 is frenetic, its tenor intellectual, and its humor largely absurd, but is interspersed with grisly moments of realism.
[edit] Explanation of the novel's title
A magazine excerpt from the novel was originally published as Catch-18, but Heller's publisher requested that he change the title of the novel so it would not be confused with another recently published World War II novel, Leon Uris's, Mila 18. The number 18 has special meaning in Judaism and was relevant to early drafts of the novel which had a somewhat greater Jewish emphasis.
There was a suggestion for the title "Catch-11", with the duplicated 1 in parallel to the repetition found in a number of character exchanges in the novel, but due to the release of the 1960 movie Ocean's Eleven, this was also rejected. "Catch-14" was also rejected, apparently because the publisher did not feel that 14 was a "funny number". "Catch-17" was rejected so as not to be confused with the WWII film Stalag-17. Eventually, by attrition, the title came to be Catch-22, which like 11, has a duplicated digit with the 2 also referring to a number of déjà vu like events common in the novel.
[edit] Plot development
The development of the novel can be split into five parts. The first (chapters 1-10) broadly follows the story of the present, though it is fragmented with respect to time and location and to particular events and characters. The second (chapters 11-16), flashes back to the events of the "Great Big Siege of Bologna", returning to the narrative present in the third part (chapter 17-22). The fourth (chapters 22-24), flashes back to the origins and growth of Milo’s syndicate, with the fifth and final part (chapter 25 onwards) returning again to the narrative present with much less fragmentation than the first and third parts.
While the first four parts develop the novel in the present and through the use of flash-backs, it is in chapters 29-39 of the fifth and final part that the novel significantly darkens. Previously, the reader had been cushioned from experiencing the full horror of the events of the war. The events of the final chapters, however, are written to allow the reader to fully understand the gritty details of the emotional and physical causualties of war.
The horror begins with the attack on the undefended Italian mountain village, with the following chapters involving the despair (Doc Daneeka and the Chaplain), disappearance (Orr and Dunbar) or death (McWatt, Kid Sampson, Dobbs, Nately, Chief White Halfoat, and Hungry Joe) of most of Yossarian’s friends, and culminating in the unspeakable horrors of Chapter 39--in particular the rape and murder of Michaela, who represents pure innocence.
