Catch-22
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: First UK Edition with 2nd issued DJ.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: 8vo, 443pp. Red cloth boards, gilt titled spine. Name penned on fep. DJ: price clipped; edgeworn; slightly yellowed with reviews on the back.
Set against the chaotic backdrop of a fictitious American Air Force base on the island of Pianosa during World War II, Catch-22 chronicles the desperate struggle of Captain John Yossarian, a bombardier who is convinced that everyone around him is trying to get him killed — and who may not be entirely wrong. The novel's central conceit, the infuriating paradox of Catch-22 itself — that a pilot can only be grounded for insanity, but requesting to be grounded proves his sanity — anchors a darkly comic narrative that dissects the absurdity, bureaucracy, and dehumanising machinery of modern warfare with savage wit and precision. Joseph Heller's landmark debut, first published in 1961, stands as one of the towering achievements of twentieth-century American literature, a novel that transformed the language of satire and permanently altered how war could be written about. His style is a breathtaking collision of non-linear storytelling, surreal black humour, and piercing social critique, illuminating how institutions — military, governmental, corporate — reduce individuals to expendable units. Decades after its publication, Catch-22 retains its ferocious relevance, leaving readers to wonder just how much has truly changed.
Author: Joseph Heller
Format: Hardback
Published: 1962, Jonathan Cape
Genre: Classic fiction
Edition: First UK Edition with 2nd issued DJ.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: 8vo, 443pp. Red cloth boards, gilt titled spine. Name penned on fep. DJ: price clipped; edgeworn; slightly yellowed with reviews on the back.
Set against the chaotic backdrop of a fictitious American Air Force base on the island of Pianosa during World War II, Catch-22 chronicles the desperate struggle of Captain John Yossarian, a bombardier who is convinced that everyone around him is trying to get him killed — and who may not be entirely wrong. The novel's central conceit, the infuriating paradox of Catch-22 itself — that a pilot can only be grounded for insanity, but requesting to be grounded proves his sanity — anchors a darkly comic narrative that dissects the absurdity, bureaucracy, and dehumanising machinery of modern warfare with savage wit and precision. Joseph Heller's landmark debut, first published in 1961, stands as one of the towering achievements of twentieth-century American literature, a novel that transformed the language of satire and permanently altered how war could be written about. His style is a breathtaking collision of non-linear storytelling, surreal black humour, and piercing social critique, illuminating how institutions — military, governmental, corporate — reduce individuals to expendable units. Decades after its publication, Catch-22 retains its ferocious relevance, leaving readers to wonder just how much has truly changed.