Catch 22
Poor Yossarian!
The book of the week this week has been Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. One of the few books in the world which created an idiom rather than bring an obscure idiom to public attention. I noticed a Vintage -UK edition on the shelf at a friend’s home and must admit that before I read it I knew very little about it. I’d read a bit about Heller and I had seen the famous Catch-22 quote when Yossarian concludes by observing “That’s some catch, that catch-22″ but I had no idea the novel was set in World War II; nor that Joseph Heller was himself a bombardier who flew 60 missions. There’s a certain credibility, honesty or veracity, perhaps needed by the novel, that his real life experience lends to the jaunty take on bureaucratic military life.
My personal reaction is one of enjoyment. I looked forward to each opportunity that came my way to dip into this wonderful novel. The chronology is vague and there were a number of occassions when I wondered if I had missed my place and would review pages before and after only to find that I was advancing quite normally through the list of pages. At first this was confusing and irritated me; I didn’t like the sensation. Later when I have grown more accustomed to the style of the writing I began to appreciate the regular returns to locations, themes and motifs. The repeat visits, sometimes under almost identical or wildly different circumstances helped to illustrate the illogicality of Yossarian’s military life.
I was also deeply impressed by the characterisation. Sometimes this came all at once and Heller would sketch out some of his character over a page or two. This taking the form of quasi-autobiographical notes made by the narrator. Again, while this felt clumsy on occassion, once I had become more familiar with the mechanics of the novel I was pleased. Heller had accomplished something dificult, wrapping personality up succinctly and openly. Openly because all of his characters are prone to not knowing what to do from time to time. The assertive resolve themselves quickly, the less assertive bumble about more before adapting to a new set of circumstances.
I though the novel was about words, beauracracy, sanity and morality. Faith is touched upon in a few places but ultimately didn’t feel like a core theme, rather a vehicle used to show that, certainly for Heller, the role played by faith is ineffectual outside of personal life. Particulalry in a large organised beauracracy. The chaplain has a wonderful family, he has been able to muster good things to him because of his own goodness. When he is embroiled in the squadron and the war, however, he finds himself a victim just as often as everyone else does, despite his willingness to be of genuine assistance to others. In fact, it is his integrity and morality, as with other characters, ultimately gets him into the most dificulty. Late in the novel when he too abandons some of his personal code, perhaps albeit temporarily, things go better for him and he reflects briefly on how easy it is to lie and cheat for one’s own advantage. I was glad that his voice is used to identify these ideas explicitly, while they pervade the rest of the book.
The vocabulary was less dificult that that I encountered in the Bostonians but was still broad enough to throw up some new terms for me. I’m still not sure if intralinear is really a word although I can follow the logic of its construction. I’m not going to write an analysis of the novel here, perhaps 2011 will open with my opinion of myself as a literary critic and author much improved. Until then I shall refrain from all but personal notes and thoughts. I can summarise those by saying that Catch-22 is a must. It’s brief and easy enough that to ignore it and the ideas it contains would be, I think, a mistake.
