War in Joseph Heller’s Catch-22

Joseph Heller’s satire Catch-22 presents war, driven by state bureaucracies, as a form of institutional psychosis. Soldiers, trapped in the circular logic of an obscure army regulation, find themselves in impossible circumstances, ones that threaten not only their personhood but their free will as well. This compelling volume offers a diverse range of views on Joseph Heller’s interpretation of war in Catch-22. Essays discuss how the book engages with the hypocrisy of American culture during the war, how the novel anticipates the anti-war novels written after the Vietnam War, and how the military in the novel reflects American society. The text also offers readers contemporary perspectives on war, discussing topics such as the U.S. provocation.