Quotation for Today, Thursday New Year’s Day 2009
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions.
Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923 – December 12, 1999) was an American satirical novelist, short story writer and playwright. He wrote the influential novel Catch-22 about American servicemen during World War II. It was this work whose title became the term commonly used to express absurdity in choice and frustration with bureaucratic insanity.
Heller is widely regarded as one of the best post-World War II satirists. Although he is remembered mostly for Catch-22, his other works center on the lives of various members of the middle class and remain exemplars of modern satire.
Joseph Heller, Miami Bookfair International, 1986
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