First published New York 1961; a chapter was anthologised in New World Writing in 1955 under the title ‘Catch-18’. In the second state jacket as is usual. Heller’s masterpiece is rightly remembered for its bizarre characters and sardonic attacks on institutions, though not quite enough credit is given to the use of anachronism and deliberately confounding structure, which traps the reader like the titular catch; it makes a lot of sense by making almost no sense.
The promotional postcards, which depict characters from the novel, were provided to encourage readers who’d enjoyed the book to tell their friends about it. The phrase ‘catch-22’ is so astute and useful, and now set so firmly in the English language, that it seems strange that the publisher felt the need to promote or explain it to anybody. Nevertheless, the card for Doc Daneeka declares that ‘anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn’t really crazy’.