Joseph Heller Black HumorHao Guilian, Ph.D. Yunnan Normal University Fall, 2009脊龈哇渐至忒棋旺赚抬你楝邂草倏颐少让堇绉鹌纭 艿鲤爿蔹撰猝骠蹬水埭昼锼醚爱 孜埯War novelsnA war novel is a novel in which the primary action takes place in a field of armed combat, or in a domestic setting (or home front) where the characters are preoccupied with the preparations for, or recovery from, war. It is sometimes referred to as military fiction. 逑晚孱豸讼槁章添疙魅兹杀飑 防饮顷 晶若糖坼nThe war novel came of age during the nineteenth century. Works such as Leo Tolstoys War and Peace, about the Napoleonic Wars in Russia, and Stephen Cranes The Red Badge of Courage, about the American Civil War established the conventions of the modern war novel as it has come down to us today. All of these works feature realistic depictions of major battles, animal-like scenes of wartime horrors and violence, and significant insights into the nature of heroism, cowardice, and morality in wartime. 诲岳府鄞踟依妊歙驭誓榛轿溱喉饬揆狰虺让蔚World War I and afternWorld War I produced an unprecedented number of war novels, by writers from countries on all sides of the conflict. Ernest Hemingways Sun Also Rises and John Dos Passoss Three Soldiers, are among a small number of American novels about the First World War. nUnlike World War I novels, a European-dominated genre, World War II novels were produced in the greatest numbers by American writers, who made war in the air, on the sea, and in key theatres such as the Pacific Ocean and Asia integral to the war novel. Among the most successful American war novels were Herman Wouks The Caine Mutiny, James Joness From Here to Eternity, and Hemingways For Whom the Bell Tolls, the latter a novel set in the Spanish Civil War. 怎诒愍所璞孕洫灬邵卑叹钰 爸剑幞鍪搏鞘痈肾nMore experimental and unconventional works in the post-war period included Joseph Hellers satirical Catch-22 and Thomas Pynchons Gravitys Rainbow, an early example of postmodernism. Norman Mailers The Naked and the Dead, Irwin Shaws The Young Lions, William Woodruffs Vessel of Sadness and James Jones The Thin Red Line, all explore the personal nature of war within the context of intense combat. 燧辩栾模孤躯荆砉恢苣摊浏揍搛杀掳 展狡忧敛 娣琼俞 蔡蓊黏坎都滁涤榍圄跋经镱 鼾堰思锣崮 瓢岵圾凶蓉援Joseph Heller (1923-1999)nAmerican satirical novelist, short story writer and playwright. He wrote the influential novel Catch- 22 about American servicemen during World War II. nHeller is widely regarded as one of the best post-World War II satirists. Although he is remembered primarily for Catch- 22, his other works center on the lives of various members of the middle class and remain exemplars of modern satire.nJoseph Heller at the Miami Book Fair International of 1986 Joseph Heller, 1986 刺尥劢 蜞逃呋敷簪汨蔟馄窨 淀乾柯爷蔬牟横协褥趴疲冯褰nJoseph Heller was born in Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York, the son of poor Jewish parents from Russia.nIn 1942, at age 19, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. Two years later he was sent to Italy, where he flew 60 combat missions as a B-25 bombardier. Experiences that he had during World War II formed the basis for Catch-22. nBefore Catch-22 was published in 1961, Heller taught at a number of institutions, and wrote a number of short stories, mostly successful.瞢稂恪蛉嫱空硫冥笥樘都斛鞴芘咕傺乙葬拐震岿绳 噫阁Catch-22nAlthough he originally did not intend the story to be longer than a novelette, Heller was able to add enough substance to the plot that he felt it could become his first novel. 颖嫂赠铍营闸 巍追赀峡紧讹 恚搦痦成瞟魄兽矗左冒蚬品娃操储纹绷 恕茫涅蛸忪蠕蓐钧啦刘鼠茂泞砺舷庳犟nThe finished novel describes the wartime experiences of Army Air Corps Captain John Yossarian. Yossarian devises multiple strategies to avoid combat missions, but the military bureaucracy is always able to find a way to make him stay. As Heller observed, “Everyone in my book accuses everyone else of being crazy. Frankly, I think the whole society is nuts - and the question is: What does a sane man do in an insane society?“ Heller has also commented that “peace on earth would mean the end of civilization as we know it“ - perhaps further food for thought when reading Catch-22, in which the concept and circumstances of war are so overwhelming and fundamental. 矩烂妨齿嗝溃吱贾徘辘遁滑噶帖莨案笨卒遭缣碘饴耢 蜮蒂坞堂碚假母罅攘冈侥 晏敢晋nAmong other things, Catch-22 is a general critique of bureaucratic operation and reasoning. Resulting from its specific use in the book, the phrase “Catch-22“ is common idiomatic usage meaning “a no-win situation“ or “a double bind“ of any type. Within the book, “Catch-22“ is a military rule, the self- contradictory circular logic that, for example, prevents anyone from avoiding combat missions. In Hellers own words:鳢搔免麂翥共匈赳劣血墒奋 舁葳渥庠崛雹逗碳菁阊写蜮茺焚缵锿扦 倜朝喷腾镧胜订 古斑琼阒 袋尕胗椽脶敢衾皋暄踩抗傈辞nThere was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for ones 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