I’m going to bet that of all the books on the Klaw 100, Joseph Heller’s Catch-22
*I’m going to steal a page from JoePo today and insert some asides. I was accused in chat in a question I didn’t post of being “anti-cliché” because I didn’t like Catcher. I don’t really know how those two things are connected – neither Salinger nor his novel seem clichéd to me – but, more to the point, is anyone actually pro-cliché? Romance-novel publishers? Slasher-film producers? Actually, a few mainstream sportswriters come to mind so I’ll stop here.
Catch-22 is now one of only a handful of novels I’ve read twice, a list that also includes Pride and Prejudice (didn’t like it in high school, read Emma as an adult and loved it, re-read P&P and realized I’d missed all the wit the first time), Things Fall Apart (first read it at 13, didn’t get the point at all), and The Great Gatsby (just because). I think Catch-22 earns the prize for the longest gap between readings – I first read it in the fall of 1989*, which means it’s been an almost-unthinkable almost twenty years since my first trip through the dystopian anti-war masterpiece.
*I can tell I’m going to beat this gimmick into the ground. I first read Catch-22 by choice, but as it turned out, it was an assigned book during that same school year in AP Lit. We actually had a choice of three novels – this one, Slaughterhouse-Five, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Next – and while I eventually read all three, I took the easy route and wrote my paper on Catch-22.
The funny part of this story is that that class, taught by Mrs. Glynn, was a substantial learning experience for me beyond the books we were supposed to read. I skipped several of the books assigned in that class, including Tess of the d’Urbervilles (rented the movie, then read the book in 2005 and loved it) and An American Tragedy (800+ pages of tiny print and I know the SOB gets it in the end, I’m all set with that, used the Cliffs Notes), and consistently scored 5’s on the papers, which Mrs. Glynn graded on the AP scale. Catch-22 was one of only two books I really read word for word and cover to cover in that class, the other being Ellison’s Invisible Man. Unfortunately, while the paper was in Mrs. Glynn’s hands, she overheard me bragging to a classmate that I hadn’t read the majority of books in her class, and sure enough, on that paper, I got a 3. The lesson I took was that it doesn’t actually matter whether you do the work as long as you act like you did and present it well. I sleepwalked through college on this newfound confidence, only really working hard in math and foreign-language classes. There may also have been a lesson in my AP Lit experience in the value of keeping my mouth shut, a lesson I have never learned and promise you all that I never will.
My memory of Catch-22 was that it was a hilarious, often absurd anti-war romp, almost like an angrier, funnier Vonnegut. I remembered anecdotes, like Nately’s whore, Milo the entrepreneur, and cracks about flies in someone’s eyes. What I didn’t remember – or perhaps didn’t realize the first time through – was that it is a profoundly cynical book, satirizing and savaging more than just war, with democracy, capitalism, government, religion, and often just plain ol’ humanity all taking it on the chin and ending up bleeding on the floor. The plot is pretty thin; the novel itself is more a meandering collecting of anecdotes told in a nonlinear fashion, an effective technique for humor that left me often confused as to the order of events*, although to read and enjoy this book you don’t really need to worry too much about sequence.
*Well, except for when someone was killed – that sort of cleared things up a bit.
In fact, I’d argue that even considering the book’s deft wordplay and ironic humor, the book’s greatest comedy comes from Heller’s scene-shifting gimmick: In the middle of dialogue between two people about a third person, Heller will jump to the third person discussing the same subject without any transition whatsoever. The quotes themselves are usually funny, but the momentary disorientation – hey, he wasn’t in the room a moment ago – increases the humor.
I’ve read one of Heller’s other novels, the unusual God Knows
*From Heller’s obituary in the New York Times: “When an interviewer told Mr. Heller that he had never written anything as good as Catch-22, the author shot back, ‘Who has?'”
Next up: A collection of Raymond Chandler’s short stories, The Simple Art of Murder
Yeah, but telling your high school teacher you never read a book that was assigned is probably even worse for your grades than letting her overhear you. Not that I learned this from experience… : \
Btw, are those Klawsterisks then? I approve.
Maybe my favorite ending line ever. It’s been a while since I read it, but I remember it being absolutely hysterical until maybe 6 or so chapters from the end and then everybody gets off in rapid succession in a really horrifying series of events. The first time I read it I was probably 15, and that was easily the most shocking turn on me I had ever read. Profoundly influenced my life after that.
If I remember correctly, that is.
I actually broke my “no sequels” rule to read Heller’s follow-up, Something Happened. I didn’t enjoy it quite as much; it’s all quite dark, closer in tone to the second half of Catch-22 than the first.
Will I get banned if I threadjack the comments and start a contest to determine the most cliche-happy sportswriter? I vote Plaschke.
Wow, I wish I had a teacher at any grade (hell, even college) who had the balls/guts to make me read Heller/Vonnegut or Cuckoo’s Nest (still haven’t read, but I assume I’ve gotten the point via the movie). The best I got was one who made me read “Heart of Darkness”, and it STILL took someone else pointing out that “Apocalypse Now” was it + Vietnam before it made sense. I read almost the whole Vonnegut canon between HS and college, along with “Catch-22” in HS, but haven’t gone back to them, or further explored Heller, since then. Maybe its time to do so (especially since I don’t remember every right cross you’ve mentioned – some, yes, but not all)…
Joe
Thanks, you inspired me to read this again. It was assigned as summer reading when I was a junior in HS I think. Loved it then, but now I’m confident I’ll love it more.
Thanks again!
I liked God Knows best of all, actually. I own both books but God Knows is the one I re-read and it even makes my top five books ever. It has been a number of years, though, I wonder if the sexism will take some of my love for the book. I’ve gotten extra sensitive about that in my dotage.
i’ve read catch-22 a lot. probably around 10 times.
my favorite scene from that book is when clevinger is getting grilled for never not saying that they couldn’t find him guilty and still be loyal to the cause of justice.
Colonel: Is that the only time you didn’t say it?
Clevinger: No, sir. I always didn’t say you couldn’t find me guilty, sir. What I did say to Yossarian was–
Colonel: (interrupting) Nobody asked you what you did say to Yossarian. We asked you what you didn’t say to him. We’re not at all interested in what you did say to Yossarian. Is that clear?
I have probably read Catch-22 5 times. If you are going to read another Heller, I would highly recommend Something Happened or Good as Gold.
This book strikes me as one of those good general tests of character. Its like if someone doesn’t like baseball or doesn’t find it funny when someone between the age of 10 and 64 falls down or if someone lists a chain restaurant as their favorite place to eat. If you didn’t like/get Catch 22, we probably won’t ever be friends.
I’m committing a minor sin by responding to your Pozterisk without reading the rest of the post or the comments:
1. Catcher in the Rye is lame. Salinger’s other writing was excellent, however.
2. Slasher movies have a lot more going on than usually given credit for. Cliche-ridden? sure. Great cultural documents? Double-sure. The feminist (don’t discount her because of this!) scholar (or this!) Carol Clover has a really interesting book about slashers called Men, Women, and Chainsaws.
There’s something wrong with being anti-cliche? Uh oh.
Keith – are you going to have a separate (free) ESPN blog, aside from this new MLB draft one?
On an unrelated note, the background for the ‘main’ part of the page loaded for me in the past few days, making the links in the sidebar unreadable Is anyone else having this problem?
Hey Keith, love the site. I trust your opinion on literature and I want to start getting into it. I was wondering if there was one book that you would suggest to get me into it. I am open to pretty much anything.
Thanks!
Yes I am having the same problem, but it doesn’t bother me al that much.
The sidebar on this blog? What browser are you using? I need to change the theme at some point anyway but haven’t come across one I liked. Anyway, I’m not having the same problem with the sidebar in Firefox 2.0.*.
Jeff: I don’t know about free/insider but I will be writing some pieces that don’t go on the draft blog.
Anthony: To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the most accessible works of literature in my top 10.
The sidebar problem seems to have gone away (browser: Firefox 3).
When I looked on the four-letter the other day it appeared that the (insider) draft blog was replacing your usual one there, and I was a little worried. Now it looks like there will be two separate ones, so no worries.
The problem has been cleared up for me too. I use the latest Safari.
Something Happened is not the sequel to Catch 22; Closing Time is. I have not had the guts to read it yet for fear of being greatly disappointed. Have any of you Catch-22 fans read it?
I am scared to read Closing Time because I love Catch-22 so much. I have had it for years, sitting on my bookshelf, collecting dust, unread. I just can’t bring myself to try to read it.
Heller’s “Good as Gold” is worth reading. It deals with a mid-life crisis, which goes over the head of the 20 somethings who read only Catch 22.