Skip to content

Posts tagged ‘joseph heller’

Jul 26

19 Comments

Authors Famous For The Wrong Book

Was Joseph Heller famous for the wrong book? (Source: MDCarchives/Wikimedia Commons)

 Is an author’s best book always his most well-known book?

That’s the question John Self of The Guardian asked last week, and his opinions sparked quite a discussion in the comments of his article and on Twitter. For instance, he mentions Kurt Vonnegut, who is probably most famous for Slaughterhouse Five. But Self says Cat’s Cradle was his best work.

Self commented on several authors who have books on the Time list–including one of my current favorites, Catch 22. Speaking of…

Read more

Jun 29

39 Comments

Book #20: Catch-22

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

“That’s some catch, that Catch-22,” he observed.

“It’s the best there is,” Doc Daneeka agreed.

And that is the gist of a Catch-22, a concept dreamed up by Catch-22 author Joseph Heller. You know an author and his book have had a powerful influence on culture when a new word or phrase from the novel becomes a part of the lexicon.

Read more

Jun 27

6 Comments

Catch 22 and Mind-Numbing Bureaucracy

I’m a fan of Catch 22. Like, a big fan. This one will probably be high in my rankings.

What I love about Catch 22, and satire in general, is that there’s truth in it. Sure, the truth has been twisted and exaggerated enough to make it funny, but satire always makes a subtle point.

A lot of Catch 22 deals with the government bureaucracy and mind-numbing amount of rules that a soldier must endure. If this novel could be summed up in one paragraph, the following might do it.

The setting: Colonel Scheisskopf has just been assigned to General Peckem, who gives Scheisskopf the responsibility of writing letters “to let everyone know how good we are and how much work we’re turning out.”

Read more

Jun 20

15 Comments

Catch 22: Satire Done Right

I’ve never read a book quite like Catch 22. And, if you’ve read it, you probably know what I mean.

To me, this is an absolutely hilarious novel. But it’s one of those books that you’ll either love or hate. Heller’s use of humor reminds me a lot of movies like Airplane or maybe something like Monty Python. Either you laugh your butt off, or you don’t laugh at all.

Yossarian, the main character, runs the show. Here’s one of my favorite lines so far.  Doc Daneeka and Yossarian are discussing Daneeka’s fear of flying (he’s a bombardier in the Air Force) and trying to figure out a way Daneeka can get out of it. Doc Daneeka says:

Read more

Jun 16

10 Comments

Next Up: Catch 22

I’m a fan of satire, dry humor. And this book has a lot of it.

So I expect to enjoy Joseph Heller’s Catch 22, but you never know. This is one of the novels you selected, so thanks for that. I’m looking forward to it. The book is set at the end of World War II and follows Yossarian, a U.S. Air Force bombardier, as he desperately tries to escape duty in the war.

Some quick facts about Catch 22:

Read more

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 4,559 other followers