Catch-22

Catch-22 is a bitterly satirical anti-war novel by Joseph Heller (1961). It deals with American bombardier John Yossarian. Yossarian is stationed on the Italian island of Pianosa during World War II. He attempts to get out of flying more combat missions by pretending to be crazy. The problem is, only a sane man would want to get out of combat, therefore Yossarian cannot be considered crazy.

The term 'Catch-22' has come to mean an unwinnable situation.

Catch-22 Controversies

In April 1998, Lewis Pollock wrote to The Sunday Times for clarification as to "the amazing similarity of characters, personality traits, eccentricities, physical descriptions, personnel injuries and incidents" in Catch-22 and a novel published in England in 1951. The book that spawned the request was written by Louis Falstein and titled The Sky is a Lonely Place in Britain and Face of a Hero in the United States. Falstein's novel was available two years before Heller wrote the first chapter of Catch-22 (1953) while he was a student at Oxford. The Times stated: "Both have central characters who are using their wits to escape the aerial carnage; both are haunted by an omnipresent injured airman, invisible inside a white body cast". Stating he had never read Falstein's novel, or heard of him,[1] Heller said: "My book came out in 1961[;] I find it funny that nobody else has noticed any similarities, including Falstein himself, who died just last year"(The Washington Post, April 27, 1998).

Film Adaptations

Catch-22 was made into a film of the same name, which was released in 1970.

References

• Heller, Joseph. Catch-22. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1961.
• Falstein, Louis. Face of a Hero", 1951.