Catch-22, the Novel
Catch-22 is a timeless work of literature. Although focused on World War II and published in 1961, early in the Vietnam War, the story explores a topic people have struggled with for centuries and continue to today: the absurdity of war. It is a stark—though humorous—commentary about the impact of war on individuals and society. The protagonist, Yossarian, is joined by an unforgettable cast of characters who are surrounded and confounded by the irrational madness of war, including the military bureaucracy itself. Author Joseph Heller was ingenious in his ability to create a story that is highly allegorical, or intended to reveal something beyond the story itself, while also engaging the reader in the fictitious yet reality-based plight of its characters. The setting is Rome and Pianosa, a small island west of Italy. Even this element is exaggerated or otherwise made surreal to develop a sense of the absurdity of life—symbolized by the illusory concept of Catch-22—that permeates the story.
Yossarian strode away, cursing Catch-22 vehemently even though he knew there was no such thing. Catch-22 did not exist, he was positive of that, but it made no difference. What did matter was that everyone thought it existed, and that was much worse, for there was no object or text to ridicule or refute, to accuse, criticize, attack, amend, hate, revile, spit at, rip to shreds, trample upon, or burn up.
—Catch-22, the novel
More broadly, catch-22 is a metaphor for the ordinary person caught up in the madness of war or modern social life in general. Heller boils his catch-22 down to this, that “they [i.e., whoever has control] have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.”
—World Socialist Web Site