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Sites about Catch-22

by Joseph Heller

Critical sites about Catch-22

Deadly Unconscious Logics in Joseph HellerÕs Catch-22

http://www.human-nature.com/rmyoung/papers/heller.html

"Catch-22 is a black comedy novel about death, about what people do when faced with the daily likelihood of annihilation. For the most part what they do is try to survive in any way they can. The book begins, 'The island of Pianosa lies in the Mediterranean Sea eight miles south of Elba.' That is the geographical location of the action. Much of the emotional plot of the book turns on the question of whoÕs crazy, and I suggest that it is illuminating to look at its world in Kleinian terms."

Author: Robert M. Young

From: The Psychoanalytic Review

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The Loony Horror of it All, 'Catch-22' Turns 25

http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/02/15/home/heller-loony.html

"John W. Aldridge examines the changing critical attitudes towards 'Catch-22' over the years. At first, many reviewers were perplexed by the book's surrealism and grotesquery. As writers like Heller and Phillip Roth began to grow in prominence, and realistic literature became less dominant in the postwar years, critics grew to consider 'Catch-22' a 'monumental artifact of contemporary American literature.'"

Contains: Historical Context

Author: John W. Aldridge

From: The New York Times Book Review October 26, 1986, Sunday, Late City Final Edition Section 7; Page 3, Column 1

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Other (non-critical) sites about Catch-22

Bombers Away

http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/02/15/home/heller-catch2.html

"'Catch-22' has much passion, comic and fervent, but it gasps for want of craft and sensibility. A portrait gallery, a collection of anecdotes, some of them wonderful, a parade of scenes, some of them finely assembled, a series of descriptions, yes, but the book is no novel. One can say that it is much too long because its material--the cavortings and miseries of an American bomber squadron stationed in late World War II Italy--is repetitive and monotonous. Or one can say that it is too short because none of its many interesting characters and actions is given enough play to become a controlling interest Its author, Joseph Heller, is like a brilliant painter who decides to throw all the ideas in his sketchbooks onto one canvas, relying on their charm and shock to compensate for the lack of design."

Contains: Review,

Author: Richard G. Stern

From: The New York Times October 22, 1961

Author: Richard G. Stern

From: The New York Times October 22, 1961

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'Catch-22': Cadets Hail a Chronicler of the Absurd

http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/02/15/home/heller-cadets.html

"At a celebration for the 25th anniversary of the publication of "Catch-22," Heller was warmly greeted at the Air Force Academy. Teachers at the academy reveal that the anti-war classic, a searing indictment of military bureaucracy, has become required reading for cadets."

Author: Andrew H. Malcolm

From: The New York Times October 6, 1986, Monday, Late City Final Edition Section B; Page 10, Column 3

Author: Andrew H. Malcolm

From: The New York Times October 6, 1986, Monday, Late City Final Edition Section B; Page 10, Column 3

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