Thursday, April 30, 2020

Catch-22 Redux


I first read Catch-22 in 1966. I was a sophomore in college, a fellow student put the book in my hands. I am proud to say after devouring the book, the first time, I put that same copy into another student's hands. 

For about a decade in the late 60s and early 70s, Catch-22 was my bedtime reading. I would just open the book anywhere and read several or many pages each night. By then, the Vietnam War was raging and the book took on darker and deeper meanings for my generation.

Right now I am reading Catch-22 once again. It has been at least 25 years since Yossarian and I have had a conversation. Though he and Joseph Heller's insanity are often near my mind.

I recognize while reading the book in order, front to back, that the theme is the same. Every page, every scene, every chapter. 

War is insane. The people who wage war are insane. Societies that participate are insane. Therefore, all humankind is insane. But if you attempt to escape war you are sane and you have to stay.

Being able to weave that singular message into a novel over and over again without ever actually saying it, is genius.

For any youngsters, who might come upon this blog without a full grasp of what a Catch-22 is, I offer you two explanations.

NOUN
  1. a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.
More specifically -"There was only once 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 he 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, have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to."

You might think that being told the same story, metaphor, life lesson, rant, rage, scream repeatedly over 500 pages would be mind-numbing. Trust me, it is not. Trust the Modern Library list of the 100 best novels, which puts Catch-22 in the top ten.

Catch-22 has become a linguistic trope in our vocabulary. How many times have you labeled some quandary a Catch-22? I asked myself that question and realized I have been writing this blog since 2007, I wondered how often I had invoked Joseph Heller's famous number.

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