Product Description
movie tie-in version ... Read more

Product Description
A guide to reading "Catch-22" with a critical and appreciative mind encouraging analysis of plot, style, form, and structure. Also includes background on the author's life and times, sample test, term paper suggestions, and a reading list. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

"I Wanted To Be A Famous Writer When I Was Ten," He Says.
..... "There was almost no conversation about it that I can remember," he told an interviewer.
He went on to explain that his father's death may nevertheless account for his books' being "very pessimistic, very black, very morbid.
Death is always present as a climactic event that never happens to the protagonist but affects him profoundly."
As a boy Heller enjoyed going to the beach, reading, and writing.
"I WANTED TO BE A FAMOUS WRITER WHEN I WAS TEN,"
HE SAYS....."
[from the book of the page 2, The Author and His Times]

a little predictable
Heller's novel gave our language a new term, but the popularity of it should be tempered by its overriding flaw--it's contrived. But go ahead and read this book for entertainment, though I don't believe you will learn much or perceive insights into war, institutional behavior, etc.

Inside Insanity
Catch 22 has, by far, ranked higher than every other book I have read about war, or any other subject.Heller has an amazing ability to take a subject such as war and allow it to effect the emotions without leaving thereader with a feeling of distress or hopelesness for mankind.The bookgives you a look inside the minds of men who would be considered crazy, andmakes you feel crazy compared to them.Read it...again and again.

One of the best page turning novels of a life time!!!!!
I found that CATCH22 is a awesome, sitting on the edge of your chair, for every page novel. The excitment is never ending. I found it to be one of the best books, right up there with the Horse Whisperer. I LOVECatch22.!!!!!!

Extremely insightful
Joseph Heller's book, " Catch 22," although extremely difficult to understand, has many valuable lessons hidden within the text.Yossarian, the main character, is a navigator during World War II.After realizingthe dangers and down sides of flying, he became afraid of his condition.The aspect of flying and the never ending trials and dilemmas he isconfronted with, give him second thoughts on the life he is living. Theonly way to be exempt from flying was to be crazy or mentally incapable. Yossarian pretends to be crazy.The catch, Catch 22, if you know that youare crazy then you can't be.

Heller's use of conflict throughout thestory provides the reader with beneficial insights to everyday life. Heller uses conflict to convey his theme that we face trials and dilemmaseveryday.Often we are confronted with a lose-lose situation.Avoidingthese situations or how we deal with them, is the determining factor of theoutcome.More specifically, Heller portrays conflicts such as man versusself and man versus destiny.Yossarian is in constant conflict withhimself and the choices he has to make.He also is frequently in conflictwith what he will become.Hellershows the readerthe reality of life,in that we are constantly facing lose-lose situations.Heller suggestsmaking the best of it: Seize opportunities as they arise, make them learning experiences, and try to have a good attitude about doing so.Nomatter what cards you are dealt, life is only what you make of it. ... Read more

Product Description
By showing that Joseph Heller was heavily influenced by the New Criticism and myth criticism that he studied in graduate school, this book discloses that Catch-22 is a faithful and inclusive retelling of the ancient epic of Gilgamesh, much as Joyce's Ulysses famously recapitulates Homer's Odyssey. This book shows that what previous critics have understood to be characteristics of the absurdist and Black Humor influence are derived from Heller's faithfulness to the Babylonian text itself. The study details Heller's use of a mystical and Jungian framework to portray the individuation of a modern hero through his struggles with the mythic and archetypal forces of irrationalism as they are manifested in modern civilization. Revealing that Heller's conception is religious and mystical, this book explores Heller's use of T. S. Eliot's mythic method and the experimental techniques of Joyce's Finnegans Wake. The themes of race, homosexuality, individuation, sado-masochism, and modernity are dealt with at length. ... Read more

Product Description
Crawdaddy, Aug. 1973. Features a previously unpublished one-act play by Joseph Heller, and articles on Jeff Beck, Chick Corea, Rick Wakeman, and Roy Wood ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
Joseph Heller (1923-1999) became a major American author in 1961 with the publication of his first novel, "Catch-22". He subsequently published six more novels, three plays, and two volumes of nonfiction.

This bibliography of Heller's works describes all printings of all editions of his books in the English language, including British publications.It also identifies Heller's contributions to books written or edited by other authors, his periodical appearances, and his published interviews. ... Read more

Product Description
This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Books by Joseph Heller, Novels by Joseph Heller, Short Story Collections by Joseph Heller, Catch-22, Something Happened, No Laughing Matter, Picture This, Now and Then, Good as Gold, Closing Time, Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man, God Knows, Catch as Catch Can: the Collected Stories and Other Writings. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt:Now and Then is Joseph Heller's 1998 memoir . The first half of the memoir focuses on Heller's childhood in Coney Island and is, in fact, as much about the place as it is about the man. Heller describes growing up, his mother and half-siblings in a fundamentally safe and fun neighborhood of punch ball, football , amusement park , and Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Stand.Heller describes his early passion for writing and some of the primary school papers that preview his adult fiction. Picking up late in high school, Heller reviews the various jobs he held before enlisting in the Air Force: telegram messenger boy , clerk at an insurance company, and blacksmith's helper in a shipyard .With World War II looming, Heller enlisted in the US Army Air Corps , where he served as a bombardier . Heller describes several of his fellow soldiers and the events that would later become part of Catch-22 .Heller completed his required number of missions, was discharged, and was married to his first wife within five months. She accompanied him to college, which Heller attended on the GI Bill , but we learn very little about her. Heller describes his early attempts at writing fiction, which occurred while he worked as an English professor and ad copywriter, and reminds the reader of the many prominent American writers who have been unable to support themselves on their words alone.Heller provides interesting details from his life's story, but ... ... Read more