On this date in 1961, the satirical anti-war novel Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (books by this author) was published. Catch-22 is about a World War II bomber pilot named Yossarian who tries to get himself declared insane so he can stop flying bombing missions. Unfortunately, there is a regulation called Catch-22, which says that if you want out of combat duty you cant be crazy. Heller wrote: [A pilot] would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didnt, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didnt have to; but if he didnt want to he was sane and had to. He also wrote: But that was war. Just about all he could find in its favor was that it paid well and liberated children from the pernicious influence of their parents. Catch-22 got mixed reviews, but it became a cult favorite. And by 1963, it had become the best-selling book in America. Vietnam War protesters began wearing pins that said, Yossarian Lives! The phrase Catch-22 became a part of the American lexicon, defined by one edition of the Oxford English Dictionary as a condition or consequence that precludes success, a dilemma where the victim cannot win.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 12:45:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015