Signed; Joseph Heller - Catch-22 - 1961

"Catch-22" by Joseph Heller - Simon & Schuster, New York - 1961 first thus BCE edition - signed by author tipped in on title page - 18cmx15cm - condition: good, in original dustwrapper with minor wear to edges. Catch-22 is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller. It was his debut novel. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the 20th century,[3] it uses a distinctive non-chronological third-person omniscient narration, describing events from the points of view of different characters. The separate storylines are out of sequence so the timeline develops along with the plot. The novel is set during World War II, from 1942 to 1944. It mainly follows the life of antihero Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bombardier. Most of the events in the book occur while the fictional 256th US Army Air Squadron is based on the island of Pianosa, in the Mediterranean Sea west of the Italian mainland, although it also includes episodes from basic training at Lowry Field in Colorado and Air Corps training at Santa Ana Army Air Base in California. The novel examines the absurdity of war and military life through the experiences of Yossarian and his cohorts, who attempt to maintain their sanity while fulfilling their service requirements so that they may return home. The book was made into a film adaptation in 1970, directed by Mike Nichols, and a miniseries in 2019, produced by George Clooney. In 1994, Heller published a sequel to the novel titled Closing Time.