Catch-22: 50th Anniversary Edition

Joseph Heller

Simon & Schuster, Oct 26, 2010 - Fiction - 464 pages

Fifty years after its original publication, Catch-22 remains a cornerstone of American lit-erature and one of the funniest—and most celebrated—novels of all time. In recent years it has been named to “best novels” lists by Time, Newsweek, the Modern Library, and the London Observer. Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy—it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he’s assigned, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved. Since its publication in 1961, no novel has matched Catch-22’s intensity and brilliance in depicting the brutal insanity of war. This fiftieth-anniversary edition commemorates Joseph Heller’s masterpiece with a new introduction by Christopher Buckley; personal essays on the genesis of the novel by the author; a wealth of critical responses and reviews by Norman Mailer, Alfred Kazin, Anthony Burgess, and others; rare papers and photos from Joseph Heller’s personal archive; and a selection of advertisements from the original publishing campaign that helped turn Catch-22 into a cultural phenomenon. Here, at last, is the definitive edition of a classic of world literature.

What people are saying

User Review -

I had to read this for school, and I must say, it is pretty much the best book I have ever read for school. It's written in achronological order, so don't expect to keep up with the story right away. But about half way through, it starts to make more sense as the story tightens around a few characters. A small warning, there is a lot of sex and prostitution in the book, so if that is repulsive to you, stay away. It is an anti-war novel, centering on the idea of human mortality. I would recommend this to anyone.  

User Review -

Great

About the author

Joseph Heller was born in Brooklyn in 1923. In 1961, he published Catch-22, which became a bestseller and, in 1970, a film. He went on to write such novels as Good as Gold, God Knows, Picture This, Closing Time (the sequel to Catch-22), and Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man. Heller died in December 1999.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Catch-22: 50th Anniversary Edition
• Author: Joseph Heller
• Contributor: Christopher Buckley
• Edition: 50, reprint
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2010
• ISBN: 1451632967, 9781451632965
• Length: 464 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Classics; Fiction / General; Fiction / Literary