12 Facts About Catch-22

Catch-22 is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller.

Catch-22 began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961.

Much of Heller's prose in Catch-22 is circular and repetitive, exemplifying in its form the structure of a Catch-22.

Catch-22 comes to despair of ever getting home and is greatly relieved when he is sent to the hospital for a condition that is almost jaundice.

Influence of the 1950s on Catch-22 is evident through Heller's extensive use of anachronism.

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Czech writer Arnost Lustig recounts in his book 3x18 that Joseph Heller told him that he would never have written Catch-22 had he not first read The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hasek.

The term "Catch-22" is used more broadly to mean a tricky problem or a no-win or absurd situation.

Idea for Catch-22 was based on Joseph Heller's personal experience in World War II.

Catch-22 seemed to embody the feelings that young people had toward the Vietnam War.

Catch-22 went through four printings in hardcover but sold well on only the East Coast.

One commentator of Catch-22 recognized that "many early audiences liked the book for just the same reasons that caused others to hate it".

Catch-22 has landed on the list of the American Library Association's banned and challenged classics.