James Baquet

    When I was in high school, some kids carried around copies of the Bible, or quoted it in their conversations.

    My friends and I carried and quoted “Catch-22,” a 1961 novel by the American author Joseph Heller (1923-1999), and No. 7 on our list of “Greatest Novels of the 20th Century.”

    The title refers to a bureaucratic problem that results in something absurd; it is used in general conversation today. In essence, it means that two rules create a paradoxical effect. For example, imagine a job that requires two years of experience from all applicants. If every employer held to that standard, no one could get the job except experienced workers, and eventually the pool of qualified employees would dry up.

    The book is based on Heller’s experience as a bombardier during World War II. He introduced the original Catch-22 with the words, “There was only one catch and that was Catch-22” — already absurd, because why does it bear the number “22” if there’s only one? It said that, if you wanted to be excused from flying bombing missions, you had to be insane, and you had to make a formal request. But since only an insane man would want to fly such missions, any man who made such a request was certainly sane — and therefore had to fly.

    Here are some more of the quotes we cherished:

    “He was going to live forever, or die in the attempt.”

    “He was a self-made man who owed his lack of success to nobody.”

    “The Texan turned out to be good-natured, generous and likable. In three days no one could stand him.”

    “Nurse Duckett found Yossarian wonderful and was already trying to change him.”

    The “Yossarian” of the last one is the protagonist of the novel, and generally believed to be a surrogate for Heller himself.

    We were thrilled when, a year after our high school graduation, Heller published another book, “Something Happened” (1974). Unfortunately, neither it, nor Heller’s five subsequent novels, lived up to the expectations we held resulting from his first. And that was the catch.

    Vocabulary:

    Which word above means:

    1. person who drops bombs from an airplane

    2. collection of resources

    3. having built-in contradictions

    4. not crazy

    5. following, coming after

    6. going against logic, often in a humorous way

    7. someone born without advantages who becomes a success on his own

    8. substitute; stand-in

    9. related to government administration

    10. tasks assigned by headquarters.