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Catch-22

Catch-22
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Catch-22

Catch-22 is a 1961 novel by Joseph Heller about the madness of war. The phrase "catch-22" has come into common use to mean a cyclical conundrum, based on its meaning in the book as described below.

The novel follows a fictional World War II US Army Air Corps bombardier, Captain Yossarian, and a number of other American airmen during World War II, based on the island of Pianosa, south of Italy. (A magazine excerpt from the novel was originally published as "Catch-18," but Heller changed the title after another World War II novel, Leon Uris's Mila 18, was published.) Its pacing is frenetic, its tenor is intellectual, and its humor is largely absurdist -- but with grisly moments of realism interspersed. As the Czech writer Arnošt Lustig testifies in his latest book "13x18", Joseph Heller personally told him that he would never have written Catch 22 had he not first read The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek .

Within the book, catch-22 is a military rule, the circular logic of which most notably prevents anyone from avoiding combat missions:

  • One may only be excused from flying bombing missions on the grounds of insanity;
  • One must request to be excused;
  • One who requests to be excused is presumably in fear for his life. This is taken to be proof of his sanity, and he is therefore obliged to continue flying missions;
  • One who is truly insane presumably would not make the request. He therefore would continue flying missions, even though as an insane person he could be excused from them by asking.

Catch-22 is also invoked at other points in the novel to justify various other actions. At one point, victims of harrassment by military agents quote the agents as having explained one of Catch-22's most macabre and rococo provisions in this fashion: Catch-22 states that agents enforcing Catch-22 need not prove that Catch-22 actually contains whatever provision the accused violator is accused of violating. The combination of brute force with specious legalistic justification is one of the books primary motifs. As in the above example, much of Heller's prose in Catch-22 is circular and repetitive, exemplifying in form the structure of catch-22.

The phrase has come to refer to similar no-win situations generally, as is noted below.

Characters in the book

The sequel to Catch 22, Closing Time, was published by Joseph Heller in 1994.

See also


Catch-22 is also a movie based on Heller's book, released in 1970 with a screenplay by Buck Henry. Along with Henry, the cast included Alan Arkin, Art Garfunkel, Bob Newhart, Anthony Perkins, Paula Prentiss , Jon Voight, Richard Benjamin , and Orson Welles. The film was directed by Mike Nichols. It was not regarded as a great success, earning less money and acclaim than M*A*S*H, which was released in the same year.

For those doing research, it should be noted that many characters in the movie speak the dialogue and experience the events of other characters in the book, which substantially alters the implications of some events.


Catch 22 has become a term, inspired by the book of the same name, describing a general situation in which A must have been preceded by B, and B have must been preceded by A. Symbolically, (~B => ~A) & (~A => ~B) where either A or B must come into being first. A familiar example of this circumstance occurs in the context of job searching. In moving from school to a career, one may encounter a Catch 22 where one cannot get a job without experience, but one cannot get experience without a job. In this respect, the initial move to the job market can be very challenging.

Note that this common use of the term represents a slightly different problem from the prime example in the book, which is better symbolized as C (being excused from flying) requires A (a request) and ~B (not being insane, without which there would be no request) and A requires B (being insane, which must be the basis for the request.) Symbolically, ((A => ~B) & (A => B)) => C (or, more simply, (A => ~B & B) => C.)


Catch 22 is a name (now considered derogatory) for Chromosome 22, microdeletion 22 q11; this disorder is located on the 22nd chromosome and the main symptoms form CATCH as an acronym:


Catch 22 is also a third-wave ska-punk band.




Last updated: 10-24-2004 05:10:45