Catch-22
To be grounded from flying you must be crazy. But asking to be grounded proves you are sane. There is no way out.
The Trap Has No Exit
Joseph Heller's 1961 novel follows Captain Yossarian, a bombardier stationed on a Mediterranean island during World War II, who is desperately trying to stay alive in a world run by military bureaucracy and competing egos. The novel's non-linear structure mirrors Yossarian's fractured reality as he watches colleagues die, schemes for survival, and confronts the one circular rule that traps every rational person inside an irrational system.
Reading Catch-22
Absurdity
/
Section
"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.
"Joseph Heller · Catch-22
Heller worked on Catch-22 for eight years while holding a day job in advertising. The title gave the English language a phrase for every impossible bureaucratic bind.
The novel was a slow burn, becoming a cultural phenomenon years after publication during the Vietnam War era. It has sold over 10 million copies and is consistently ranked among the greatest novels of the twentieth century.