Review Of Catch-22 From The Postmodernism Point Of View

In the 60's of last century, a very important novel called Catch-22 was praised to be"one of the most important works written by Americans since the WWII and"the first one of those novels that led a new direction of American literature in the 60's", since it surged a cyclone of black humor, and it also cleaned off the depressing pattern known as 10 Timid Years in the 50's American literary field. Besides, its author Heller gained very high reputation and joined in the group of the most important novelists.Catch-22 made a fiction happening in the 256th flying squadron of US Air Force while they were garrisoning on the island of Pianosa in Italy during the WWII. The main clue is the conflict between Captain Joseph, a bomber seeking to survive and the military bureaucratic system leading by Colonel Cathcart, while the sub-clue is to reveal the carrion quality of monopolized bourgeoisie by the means of the continuous development and enhancement of syndicate managed by Milo, a manciple. In the economically military bureaucratic system, the averages could only be ordered and fooled, and could never escape from the trap of Catch-22. This novel reveals the"Organized Confusion"and the"Systemized Madness"as it shows the absurd war.As the representative masterpiece of Black Humor, Catch-22 is full of varied jokes and humor. By describing the absurd and even the terrible environment where the characters live, Heller satirizes social ideologies, value systems and traditional influences acutely. Through the novel, Heller shows readers the American society of his view. The society is crazy where there is only one absurd logic that all people should abide by Catch-22. By the symbol of Catch-22, readers can also know the absurdity, craziness and incredibleness of the war, American society and its bureaucracy.In this novel, we can find anti-traditional writing methods when the author expresses the realistic contents. The novel shows a lot of differences in terms of tones, attitudes and world opinions on base of succeeding characteristics of Modernism. The novel exerts many postmodern writing techniques, too. This masterpiece shows its unique style in terms of contents, forms and art characteristics. In western literary history, it is indeed a classic with bright colors of Postmodernism.