Catch-22
by Joseph Heller
Summary
Bombardier John Yossarian tries every possible scheme to be declared unfit for further combat missions during the Second World War, only to run headlong into the circular bureaucratic logic of the title's namesake rule, which proves that anyone sane enough to want out of combat is by definition sane enough to keep flying. Heller fuses absurdist comedy with genuine horror at the machinery of war, coining a phrase that has entered everyday language to describe any impossible bureaucratic bind. The novel's fragmented, looping structure and dark humor reshaped what a war novel could look like.
Historical Context & Significance
The 1962 National Book Award for fiction went to Walker Percy's The Moviegoer, beating out Heller's novel along with several other heavily favored finalists. Catch-22 sold slowly at first before growing into one of the most widely read American novels of the century through steady word of mouth.