I first read this book in college circa 2005, and it has stuck with me ever since for its dark humor and satire on corporations and bureaucracy. The real-life experiences of Joseph Heller served as the inspiration for this 570-page wartime novel.
My last re-read is timestamped 2nd to 13th September 2014, with my final penciled comment reading, "The love of a woman scorned." Most probably, I recalled William Congreve's "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" at the time, in reference to Nately's plight. The character of Nately is part of a huge ensemble of diverse specimens viz. Yossarian (who has "no respect for excessive authority or obsolete traditions"), pejorative takes on authority in Major Major, Colonels Cathcart and Korn, the plaintive chaplain, Milo Minderbinder with his profiteering schemes et al.
Adding personal commemorative value to Catch-22 is the fact that I had the good fortune of getting Upamanyu Chatterjee, the author of English, August, to autograph my copy at the Times Litfest in New Delhi some time ago. While on the subject of dwelling on things past, Heller, in his preface dated 1994, uses alliteration to great effect in describing his interactions with his publishers and the events surrounding his debut novel's publication. The repetition of phrases, events and actions occurs frequently in the novel as well. In keeping with his trademark morbid humor, he signs off reminding his readers that Yossarian, the central character, is mortal.
The book is easily reflective of the corporate monotony and bureaucratic fallacies that prompted Heller to create the setting - the small island of Pianosa, acting as the base for an Air Force squadron that consists of a bewildering array of idiosyncratic people. Many of these idiosyncrasies arise from the war they are participating in, and it is these quirks and eccentricities in the personas that Heller focuses upon. Employing excellent vocabulary, Heller dispenses epiphanies through his characters, especially Yossarian, as they encounter each other in pursuit of their agendas.
Yossarian serves as the existentialist foil to government machinations. He derides duty, actively attempts to disown war and violence, and unsuccessfully searches for logical reasons for the demands placed on him by his superiors. Encountering the titular dilemma at the very outset, Yossarian cannot bring himself to terms with the obvious (to him) ludicrousness of his situation. Using an omniscient narrator, Heller describes how conversations and decisions of authorities have a percolating effect on Yossarian's actions. Multiple characters accept their "crazy" reality explicitly, aware of the futility of struggling against the illogical system. Unable to escape, Yossarian stumbles through periods of rest and resuscitation while his comrades-in-arms act with abandon. During one of these reprieves, a shockingly gruesome death takes place, followed immediately by another. The detachment from logic seems reinforced after this point, and as the casualties of war pile up, the character of Milo Minderbinder comes into his own, skilfully manipulating the convoluted system for monetary gain.
Of the dozens of characters that have, directly or indirectly, a bearing on Yossarian's future, Milo is unarguably the most dominant. This is proved by his inclusion as a central character in Heller's sequel to Catch-22, aptly titled Closing Time. Throughout both stories, Yossarian worries about death, illnesses and mortality. It is Heller's masterful comedic skill, interspersed with sudden and minor physical assaults, that somehow turns "somber" thoughts into laughable situations for the reader.
The descriptions of the characters are full of opposite adjectives, and the wordplay on some names (Cathcart + 'í' = cathartic) is worthy of applause. Indeed, Catch-22 has deserved all the accolades that have come its way. It IS an awesomax piece of literature!
Addendum from annotations:
"To die or not to die, that was the question." Paraphrasing Shakespeare.
Milo: "Dunbar says there is no God". Me, I say Nietzsche says that.
Hungry Joe and Huple's cat sparked Hemingway's eponymous old man's dreams of lions.
Yossarian's "necrotic" visions of mushrooms reads like a Haruki Murakami supernatural episode.
Capisci - one of the earliest Italian words I understood, courtesy Mario Puzo.
The hospital-and-sick-people topsy-turvy situation reads in the vein of Bilbo Baggins' quip about liking half his party guests half as well as he should and so on in The Lord of the Rings.
"Try getting lit once in a while." Way ahead of its time!
A few typos (Vintage UK 978-0-099-53601-7) but Mostly Harmless, as Douglas Adams said about earth in HHGTTG.
Rorschach tests are mentioned; I've also scribbled deja-vu so they probably occur more than once.
'Medulla oblongata' invoked Fight Club in my mind, further endearing this book to me.
'Transmogrified' - immediately, I recalled Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson's gift to humanity.
In a rare Kafkaesque sequence, Yossarian muses, "What a lousy earth!" This is used in Closing Time (p.25, Scribner 2003).
"Mobs with clubs..." reminded me of A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.
"I like the way you lie'' - one word away from Eminem and Rihanna's song.
All in all, an excellent read, littered with insights and verbiage.
