The Good Soldier Svejk and His Fortunes in the World War Book

"Nowadays it's fun being locked up," Švejk continued with relish. "There's no quartering, no Spanish boots. We've got bunks, a table, a bench. We're not all squashed together like sardines: we get soup; they give us bread and bring us a jug of water. We've got our latrines right under our snouts. You can see progress in everything."

Jaroslav Hašek was a born practical joker and mischief-maker. What better author to write a comic novel that's also a war novel than this renowned literary Czech hoaxer. As Milan Kundera observed, in Homer and Tolstoy war had a comprehensible meaning and people fighting the war knew what they were fighting for. With Hašek things are much different: soldiers like Švejk go off to battle without the foggiest idea why they are fighting - and even more alarming, without even wanting or caring to find out.

The Good Soldier Švejk is a classic work of European literature, one of the most popular and beloved novels ever published. Memorable scenes and quotable lines, as the one cited above, pop out on every single one of its 750 pages.

Penguin Classics is to be commended for Cecil Parrott's lively English translation and also including a Guide to the Pronunciation of Czech Names, maps, Josef Lada illustrations and the translator's extensive Introduction providing biographical notes on the author as well as social, cultural, historical and literary context for the novel.

The first chapter starts off with a bang - the shooting of the Archduke Ferdinand, nephew of the Austrian Emperor, and his wife at Sarajevo by a Serbian nationalist. Not exactly history's peaches and cream event as this bang-bang-bang propelled Europe into the First World War. What follows gives a reader a real bang for their buck, mostly of the comic variety taking the form of what I term a "Švejk moment." Here are a four such"Švejk moments" I count among my personal favorites:

1. Thrown in jail at police headquarters with a bunch of other anti-government conspirators, labeled as such for things like not reading the newspaper about the recent events in Sarajevo, one shocked man cries out, "I'm innocent!" to which Švejk replies, "Jesus Christ was innocent too and all the same they crucified him. No one anywhere has ever worried about a man being innocent. Grin and bear it."

2. The government official in the pub who took Švejk off to prison promised to return with armed guards so he could arrest the pub owner since he let flies shit on a portrait of the Archduke he had hanging in his pub. When the pub owner is thrown in the cell with Švejk and the other men, he instantly becomes despondent. Švejk shakes his hand cordially and says: "I knew that gentleman would keep his word when he said that they'd come for you. Punctiliousness like that is a good thing"

3. Švejk's landlady is beside herself with upset and wants sympathy. She tells Švejk she is going to jump out the window, to which the good soldier replies: "If you want to jump out the window, go into the sitting room. I've opened the window for you. I wouldn't advise you to jump out of the kitchen window, because you'd fall on the rose bed in the garden, damage the bushes and have to pay for them. From the window in the sitting-room you'll fall beautifully on the pavement and if you're lucky you'll break your neck."

4. A policeman attempts to trap Švejk by buying dogs from the good soldier. He keeps the dogs in a room without feeding them. Some time thereafter, upon entering the room, the dogs tear him to pieces. When Švejk hears of this most tragic event, he says: "It gives me a headache to think how they are going to put all his pieces together when the day of the last judgement comes."

As Cecil Parrott states in his Introduction and a number of other literary critics have noted, a more complete appreciation of Jaroslav Hašek’s novel forces us to fathom Švejk’s character which is complex and multifaceted and knotty . Švejk is quick to acknowledge with pride that he received a military discharge for patent idiocy but, as we come to learn the more we read, Švejk is nobody’s fool. Although he frequently plays the dunce, it becomes increasingly clear Švejk is keenly analytic, knowledgeable, well-read and possesses a deep understanding of human nature.

What adds much depth to the tale is all in the contrast: from beginning to end Švejk remains calm, almost angelic; his eyes glow with innocence and tenderness, his face radiates kindness, gentleness and light; he speaks his words with such sincerity and honesty that those around him, even the most hardheaded and militaristic, are taken by his presence. Meanwhile individuals in power like the police and military officers are characterized as selfish, vulgar, uncouth, loutish, even brutal, sadistic and inhumane.

Returning to the character of Švejk, there still remains the issue: to what degree is Švejk at one with his glowing innocence? Or, stated another way, how much of what we read of Švejk's adventures is a matter of the good soldier playacting in order to manipulate those around him? Readers are left to decide for themselves. However, one thing is clear: a sweet, kindly, honest Švejk from the tip of his cap to the laces of his boots makes for a story both charming and heartwarming.

So here we are at the outbreak of the First World War and the countries of Europe are poised to swing into action. Join the army, muster up your courage and go to the front. What adventure! Be a hero off the pages of Walter Scott or Alexandre Dumas. But as thousands of young men quickly discovered - this is the twentieth century, complete with machine guns, poison gas, flamethrowers, mortars, tanks and aircraft. The chances of returning from the front in one piece physically and mentally are slim to none.

Yet inept governments and bumbling military leaders pressed on. What was needed in such a world gone mad was an author capable of stinging satire, creating a hero more anti-hero than hero. What was needed was Jaroslav Hašek and his The Good Soldier Švejk.


Jaroslav Hašek (1883 -1923) - "Great times call for great men," was Hašek's ironic comment about Švejk.