Catch-22

Joseph Heller · 1961 CE · Novel · Modern / American · Contemporary

A bombardier on a Mediterranean island wants to be grounded, but the only grounds are insanity, and asking to be grounded proves he is sane. His colonel keeps raising the number of missions required, while the squadron runs on profiteering, paperwork and euphemism. The war novel that made bureaucracy the enemy and gave English a name for the trap.

Open Catch-22 in the archive — filters, lineage graph and full facet browsing.

Lineage

• influenced by ↑ The Trial
  Franz Kafka · 1925 CE · Novel

Attributes

Closest analogues

• Slaughterhouse-Five
  Kurt Vonnegut · 1969 CE · Novel

  65% · 17 shared
  NovelSatireWarWar & ViolenceExistential AbsurdityDeath & MortalityContemporaryEverymanNonlinear / FracturedSurvivalThe ClockThe Machinevs Societyvs Fate / GodsAbsurdistSatiricalModern / American
• Gravity's Rainbow
  Thomas Pynchon · 1973 CE · Novel

  55% · 15 shared
  NovelSatireWarWar & ViolenceDeath & MortalityContemporaryTricksterEverymanNonlinear / FracturedThe Machinevs Societyvs Fate / GodsAbsurdistSatiricalModern / American
• M*A*S*H
  Robert Altman · 1970 CE · Film

  55% · 13 shared
  SatireWarComedyWar & ViolenceExistential AbsurdityIndividual vs SocietyContemporaryAnti-HeroTrickstervs SocietySatiricalComicModern / American
• White Noise
  Don DeLillo · 1985 CE · Novel

  52% · 14 shared
  NovelSatireComedyIndividual vs SocietyDeath & MortalityContemporaryTricksterEverymanThe MachineThe Plaguevs SocietySatiricalComicModern / American
• Man Equals Man
  Bertolt Brecht · 1926 CE · Play

  49% · 11 shared
  SatireWarComedyWar & ViolenceIndividual vs SocietyTricksterEverymanThe Machinevs SocietySatiricalComic
• The Sirens of Titan
  Kurt Vonnegut · 1959 CE · Novel

  48% · 13 shared
  NovelSatireComedyExistential AbsurdityDeath & MortalityContemporaryTricksterEverymanThe Machinevs Fate / GodsAbsurdistSatiricalModern / American