A Brief Study on Black Humor in Catch-22-浅议《第二十二条军规》中的黑色幽默.docx

A Brief Study on Black Humor in Catch-22Chapter I IntroductionCatch-22 is the first and most important long novel of Joseph Heller. Since catch-22 was published in 1961 in America, it has always been a crucial part of modern literature. With the time passing, the novel has not been out of date. On the contrary, it attracts wide attentions around the world because of the novels theme, writing style and value. In China, an increasing number of scholars write books and essays to expound different aspects of the novel. Through detailed search and analysis, it was found that at present there are at least 130 academic papers about Catch-22 on the CDMD (Chinese Doctor and Masters Database). Among all these papers, 48 papers focus on its theme and the author and 66 papers are concerned with its writing skills. Some others mainly study on the absurdity as well as other things related with Catch-22, for example, Wu Shaohui (2006) Free Choice in an Absurd WorldAn Interpretation of the Existentialism and Wang Yimei (2005) The Gradual Return to SelfA Tentative Analysis of Self-awareness in the 20th Centurys Western Modernist Literature. Besides, several papers are about characters of Catch-22 such as Wan Shihua (2006) The Black Figure SalonAnalysis of the Figures on Catch-22. Undoubtedly no matter what subjects the scholars study, theme, writing skill or others, it is inevitable for them to touch on the literature gene of this novelblack humor. This paper makes a tentative study on the relationship between black humor and Catch-22. From the perspective of black humor, the author of this paper is trying to make a detailed analysis on its main character, theme, structure and language aims to comprehensively display the deduction of black humor in Catch-22 and let the readers have a better understanding of this novel. Chapter II General Explanation of the Black HumorBlack humor is credited to the Anthology of Black Humor, a 1939 French anthology of 45 writers edited by Andre Breton. In the United States, black humor as a literary genre came to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s. Later, an English-language anthology edited by Bruce Jay Friedman, titled Black Humor, assembles works of 12 writers of the genre. It is one of the most representative genres in the American literature in 1960s. For instance, the works of such writers as Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon, John Barth, Joseph Heller, and Philip Roth contain elements of black humor.It was usually used in literature, drama, and film, is a kind of grotesque or morbid humor retaining a serious tone .The purpose of black humor is to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. Ordinary characters or situations are usually exaggerated far beyond the limits of normal satire or irony. Black humor uses devices often associated with tragedy and is sometimes equated with tragic farce. For example, Stanley Kubrick's film Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1963) is a terrifying comic treatment of the circumstances surrounding the dropping of an atom bomb, while Jules Feiffer's comedy Little Murders (1965) is a delineation of the horrors of modern urban life, focusing particularly on random assassinations. Popular themes of the genre include murder, suicide, war, barbarism, drug abuse, terminal illness, domestic violence, insanity, nightmare, disease, racism, disability (both physical and mental), chauvinism, corruption, and crime. Besides, some comedians use it as a tool for exploring vulgar issues, thus provoking discomfort and serious thought as well as amusement in their audience.The author of this paper thinks that black humor as one of the American literature genres must have its origin. Looking back into the history, it is not difficult to find that there are two aspects of reasons for the appearance of black humor. First of all, the war trauma and social disturbance make people have a foreboding of the end of the world. In 1960s, the WWII has just finished, but the effects of the war lasted for many years. All facts in American disclosed the lies of so-called justice and patriotism resulting in shaking peoples belief in God, humanitarianism and reason. In addition, the lopsided development of technology caused the loss of personality. An increasing number of people were stressed out materially and spiritually. Under that circumstance, black humor came out as a necessary method to express peoples inner feelings.Chapter III Brief Introduction to Joseph Heller3.1 Hellers LifeJoseph Heller (1923-1999) was born in Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York on May 1, 1923. He is the son of poor Jewish parents from Russia. He died of a heart attack at the age of 76 years old at his home in East Hampton, on Long Island, in December 1999. Even as a child, he loved to write; as a teenager, he wrote a story about the Russian invasion of Finland and sent it to New York Daily News, which rejected it. His works were first published in 1948, when the Atlantic ran one of his short stories. That first story nearly won the “Atlantic First." In 1953, he began to write his Catch-22 and it was published in 1961. Shortly after Catch-22 was published, Heller thought of an idea for his next novel, which would become Something Happened. After that, he became a professional writer and kept on writing until the completion of his last novel, Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man.Reality is the setting of literature. Hellers life experience affected his writing career. He was born into a Jewish family. Because of racial persecution in Russia, his family immigrated to America in 1913. When he was young, his family was very poor. In 1942, at the age of 19, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. Two years later, he was sent to Italian Front as a bombardier. Yossarian, the main character in Catch-22 is similar to him in many aspects. After the war, Heller studied English at the University of Southern California and New York University. During that period, he began to write short stories. He was once suffered from gullian-barre syndrome. His illness and recovery are recounted at great length in the autobiographical No Laughing Matter (Heller 1986). In 1998, he released a memoir, Now and Then: From Coney Island to Here, in which he relived his childhood as the son of a deliveryman and offered some details about the inspirations for Catch-22. 3.2 Hellers Works and Writing StyleJoseph Heller began his writing career as the author of short stories but won immediate acclaim with Catch-22 (1961; film, 1970). A protest novel underscored with black humor, Catch-22 satirizes the horrors of war and the power of modern society, especially bureaucratic institutions, to destroy the human spirit. Heller's second novel, Something Happened (1974), an expose of the capacity of the business world to crush the individual, is a pessimistic statement about the effects of prosperity on the human condition. We Bombed in New Haven, a play produced on Broadway in 1967, is a tragicomedy similar in theme and mood to Catch-22. Good as Gold (1979) involves a humorous portrayal of Jewish family life and a satire of national politics, including attacks on real people such as Henry Kissinger. God Knows (1984) is a humorous retelling and analysis of the biblical account of King David. Among his later works are the novels Poetics (1987) and Picture This (1988) Closing Time (1994) Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man (2000). No Laughing Matter (1986) is a chronicle of Heller's recovery from Guillain-Barre syndrome, which contains alternating chapters by Heller and his good friend Speed Vogel. The book reveals the assistance and companionship Heller received during this period from a number of his prominent friendsMel Brooks, Mario Puzo, Dustin Hoffman and George Mandel among them. Heller's works are characterized by a satirical sense of the absurd, speaking out against the military-industrial complex and those organized institutions which seem to manipulate people's lives in the name of reason or morality. The author of this paper just takes Hellers Catch-22 and something wrong as examples.In Catch-22, the author discarded the traditional realism, made whole works without a complete plot development clue. There was not a prominent character image. Instead, it is full of chaos, noisy, crazy atmosphere. But the authors also stressed a "serious absurd", describing the whole American society from its internal dirty, corruption, and fall, especially those bureaucrats. Joseph Hellers second novel, Something Wrong, written in 1974, described a company staffs mental anguish. It reflects the psychological state of American middle class. Something Wrong focused on writing external forces causing the persons oppression and corrosion. Catch-22 mainly told the characters inner spiritual life. The author in this novel made use of jokes to show that there was really something wrong with the society. He also satirized the reality and politics through absurd and deforming description.3.3 Hellers Catch-223.3.1 The Background of Catch-22 After WWII, America experienced a period of unprecedented economic boom. In 1950s, America became the big brother of the capitalism world. The Cold War broke out between America and Soviet Union. With the stronger of Soviet Union, many American began be afraid of communism. They thought that the lives of American would be in danger. The republican from Wisconsin Joseph R McCarthy speak out the fear of the American. McCarthyism made the young be resentful and limited the development of literature. Besides, exhausting all resources to build up American military power aroused the anti-war sentiment. Under such political circumstances, Catch-22 came out to express the authors feeling to a chaotic America.At the beginning of 20th-century, the famous new humanism critic More found that there was a kind of “the power of blackness” in American literature. O. Henry made use of “tearful humor” to tell the miserable life of ordinary people. Mark Twain used a kind of humor, which described bleeding with pleasure and made jokes on corpse. This kind of humor was very close to black humor literature created by Mark Twain has significant effects on the following writers. With the time passing, the humor literature was developed by leaps and bounds. Some scholars pointed out that ridicule was one of the characters in 20-th century literature. In 1960s, black humor became prevalent. It was a new period of humor after Mark Twain. Just at that time, Joseph Heller began to write his Catch-22. And after it was published, he became the representative writer of this period.There are social factors for Joseph Hellers Catch-22. Although the WWII ended in 1945, it was difficult for people to get rid of the fear and unpeaceful feelings caused by war. The crime of Nazi and the using of atom all left a very deep impression on people. Because of the using of atom, people doubted whether technology benefit human or not. In 1950s, the success of superatomatic experiments and artificial satellite all made people feel pollution made people unpeaceful. In 1960s, population explosion and deteriorated environment pollution made people feel ideological confusion. Democracy, individual pursuit religious belief all did not exist. Traditional moral beliefs and value system lost their effects. The people in modern society lost connect with history and were tapped in lone and alienation. 3.3.2 Gist of the NovelCatch-22 is a satirical, historical novel of Joseph Heller. It was set during the later stages of World War II from 1944 onwards, which is frequently cited as one of the great literary works of the twentieth century. It has a distinctive non-chronological style where events are described from different characters points of view and out of sequence so that the time line develops along with the plot.Joseph Heller wrote the novel without a complete plot. There are 42 chapters and every chapter tells a story of one person. The novel follows Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bombardier, and a number of other characters. Most events occur while the airmen of the fictional 256th squadron are based on the island of Pianosa, in the Mediterranean Sea west of Italy. During the WWII, the protagonist Yossarian lived in a strange and unusual world, where everyone placed the war in the center. As a bombardier of an U.S. Army Air Forces, he was committed to war out of justice. Because of his achievements in war, he was promoted to captain. However, after he witnessed a lot of hypocritical, absurd, crazy and cruel phenomena, Yossarian became cynical and antipathetic to war. He wanted neither to be promoted nor to contribute. He just wanted to go home after his companions were killed one after another. So he devised multiple strategies to avoid combat missions, but the military bureaucracy is always able to use the catch-22 to make him stay. Gradually, Yossarian came to realize that catch-22 did not actually exist, but because the powers that claimed it does, and the world believes it does. At last, he had to escape to Sweden.The author of this paper thinks that although many events in the book are repeatedly described, it is from different points of view. In that way the reader learns more about each event from each point of view, with the new information often completing a joke, the punch line of it was told several chapters previously. The novel often describes events out of sequence, but events are referred to as if the reader is already familiar with them, so that the reader must ultimately piece together a timeline of events. Chapter IV Black Humor in Catch-224.1 The Characters in This NovelThe writer directly exposes every real aspect of American bureaucracy society after WWII by depicting those people in single of multiple dimensions. Being the representative of the literature of black humor, the work contains tremendous styles of utterances and behaviors of various persons which circle the principle of “catch-22” .Yossarian, a typical anti-heroic character of black humor, is the protagonist in Catch-22. Yossarian had a lot of heroic characteristics, for instance, he was very smart and knew the world literature very well. Therefore, he was familiar with various classical heroic characters. He was not like Henry having too many fancies. In the Air Force Training, Clevinger thought Scheisskoph really need suggestions when he asked for advices, while Yossarian knew that was not true. At the same time, Yossarian was admired and respected by others. Without his support, Dobbss plan of assassinating Colonel Cathcart was failed. Besides, the capitalists Milo admired Yossarian very much, for instance, he always asked Yossarian for advices to run his business.Most of his behaviors are regarded as immoral and coward, for example, he w