'Catch-22' Is So True You'll Want to Cry

There's no such thing as the Great American Novel, of course. That's just a useful fiction, a framing device for thinking about which novels matter to you and which don't. But if there were a Great American Novel, my contenders would include Huckleberry Finn, Native Son, Moby-Dick, The Scarlet Letter, and Catch-22. I'd put all of them in a boxing ring and then bribe the referee to give Catch-22 the benefit of the doubt. (I know, I know—no ladies in the ring, which seems chauvinistic. But if there were a generalized Great American Writer fight—short stories, etc.—I'd put my money on Dorothy Parker and Flannery O'Connor.)