He was American writer, who wrote absurd literature. Joseph was born in 1923 in New York. He fought in second world war as a pilot of bomber. He had to drop bombs on German targets in Italy. After war he studied at Colombia university and then in Oxford. In this time he was writing short stories. Since 1950 he had worked in advertising agencies. In 1961 he published his most famous novell – Catch XXII. His other books are Good as gold, Closing time (this book is free sequel of Catch XXII), God knows, Somethig happened. He was married and he had got two children. In 1986 he got divorce. He died in 1999, after heart failure.
Joseph used in this book his own experiencies. This novell criticises world war and contains parts of absurdity, sarcasm and irony. Story shows life in american army in island Pianosa. Island Pianosa isn’t real. Catch 22 is law which determine life and obligations of soldiers. But Catch 22 was useful only for commanders. Novell was divided to 42 chapters and 39 of them were named by soldiers. Each soldier represents different character. Main character was Yossarian, who didn’t want to die for his country. He was afraid of death and he didn’t want to fight. He had got psychological problems for frequent air attacks. He pretended illnesses. He couldn’t get home because colonel Cathcart was increasing number of flights. Yossarian pretended, that he was crazy. He was walking nacked in camp, but nobody believed, that he was mad. Lieutenant colonel Korn give him special offer: Korn would send Yossarian home, but Yossarian had to say only positive things about army. Yossarian didn’t agree with this offer and he decided to desert.
Milo Minderbinder wasn’t afraid of war. War was big business for him. He was cook and he collected supplies. He established sindcate and each soldier was member of it. He was trading with various products – fruits, vegetables. He didn’t see borders between enemy – he was trading with Germans too.
Story is very wide and offers many sights on war, but it isn’t sad. Author made fun of army and wrote about war in war.
