Abstract

Joseph Heller, the post-WWII American novelist of absurdity depicts a crazy world in the Island of Pianosa in his representative works Catch 22. The author intends to present in his novel a crazy and chaotic modern society by using fragmental narrative structures. Starting from contrasting the two different art forms of film and fiction, this paper analyses the distinctive narrative features of Heller's Catch 22 and the same-titled film directed by Mike Nichols. Through specific descriptions of the absurd incidents on the wartime island in the two art forms, it concludes: although film has adopted such techniques as flashback and repetition which differs from those in the novel, it is the very proof that the formal deviation is just Nichols' innovative attempt to achieve thematic agreement with Heller's Catch 22.  

Key words:  Catch-22; narration; fiction; film

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1 Introduction-1

2 Narrative themes-2

3 Narrative features of the fiction-5

3.1 Language styles-5

3.2 Structural techniques-8

4 Film’s unique narrative discourse-10

5 Conclusion-14

Reference-15