‘Catch-22’: Joseph Heller’s great antiwar novel whose barbs are still true, even in times of peace

Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 (1961) is a satirical antiwar novel about an American bomber squadron stationed in Italy in the Second World War. It exposes the horrors of war, but, even more, it is about the inept and immoral military bureaucracy and the grim relationships between men and women within the war. Its barbs still strike home, even in times of relative peace.

This is because Heller was not just writing against war. “Frankly, I think the whole society is nuts,” he once said – “and the question is: What does a sane man do in an insane society?”

A word-of-mouth success

The novel doesn’t exactly have a plot. For the most part, its 42 chapters circle around episodes and characters. It is not until you are some way in that you begin to get a feel for its content and method.

The novel needs a second pass to catch everything you missed the first time, such as the first mention of the central “Snowden” episode, or the extent to which various characters are morally compromised, or the way the protagonist Yossarian replies “pretty good” whenever anyone asks him how he is (he is far from pretty good).

Key episodes include Yossarian spending time in hospital, either because he is actually injured or feigning…

Read more