Society in Flashlight: Analyzing Joseph Heller's Catch-22 [Paperback]

János Kávássy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 21, 2008 | ISBN-10: 3639014715 | ISBN-13: 978-3639014716

It has been more than a four and a half decades since Joseph Heller's Catch-22 was first published. By the late summer of 1962 the first book of a previously unknown author became a hit, discussed everywhere in the media. By 1970 the title itself entered the English vernacular on its own right, meaning: a paradox in law regulation or practice that makes one a victim of its provisions no matter what one does". The book is a kind of cross-genre piece of work and was called a novel a satire a war novel or/and a protesting war novel and even was described as a fable. Form however does not relate directly to meaning - so when discussing Catch-22 we should always focus on the meaning of the book. Beside the setting - the Italian air war of World War II the methods - the trials hearings and loyalty oaths of the McCarthy era and the intentions - the anti-war feeling and escapism of the Sixties Catch-22 is still basically about MAN as a moral being. Faced with a disastrous world and in conflict with a callous society Heller's hero Yossarian evolves as a kind of moral standard to which we can measure ourselves and the world we are living in."

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

János Kávássy, PhD(in progress): Studying Hungarian - US relations from 1980 to 1988. MA: Degrees in History and English Language Literature. Teaching English as a foreign language at Selye János High School.

Product Details

• Paperback: 76 pages
• Publisher: VDM Verlag (May 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3639014715
• ISBN-13: 978-3639014716
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,308,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)