Fifty years have passed since Joseph Heller’s satirical masterpiece Catch-22 was first published. An irreverent and surreal re-imagining of a squadron of Second World War air-crew stationed in the Mediterranean, the book lampooned the illogical or arbitrary bureaucracy of war and the frustration the young men experienced.
In last week’s Critic at large essay in the NS, Daniel Swift celebrated the enduring relevance of the novel. Here’s a video of the author speaking before his death in 1999 on how the title became incorporated into modern parlance.
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