First part of Czech classic The Good Soldier Švejk published 90 years ago

It has been 90 years since the publication of the first part of, Jaroslav Hašek’s The Good Soldier Švejk. The four-part novel (which Hašek failed to complete before his death at 40) introduced his good-natured protagonist famously reacting to the assassination of the archduke in Sarajevo in 1914. He asks his charwoman “Which Ferdinand, Mrs Muller? I know two...”, oblivious to the gravity of developments. The novel has long since been recognised as a satirical masterpiece, and has been translated into more than 50 languages.

There is arguably no literary character in the Czech canon as famous as Josef Švejk – Jaroslav Hašek’s good soldier who makes a mockery of his ‘betters’ in the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the First World War. The month of March marks 90 years since the publication of the first part of Hašek’s four volume work, entitled ‘Behind the Lines’. Radko Pytlík is an expert on Hašek’s life and literary work:

“The first part, which was published in magazine form, initially got poor reaction from Czech readers. But it did get attention on the world scene following the German translation in 1926, after which it was picked up by famous German theatre director Erwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator who adopted it for the theatre in 1928. That went a long way in making the character of Švejk famous on a world scale.”

Švejk’s adventures and the predicaments he finds himself in have since captured the imagination of millions of readers: the secret behind the character’s popularity, Radko Pytlík says, is largely Švejk’s good-natured ability to subvert the system. He has often easily been mistaken for a fool, says Mr Pytlík, but is far from being one.

Švejk

“Švejk has no goal to achieve power, no great ambitions, and he is very basically humane. He is the way he is, and what’s more he’s humorous. He can laugh at - or make fun of - pseudo-authority, people with pretentions to power. That makes him popular with readers. Many characters in world literature have been compared to him: Yossarian in Catch-22 is very close in his anti-war outlook and his resignation to events around him. But there is also something very Czech about Švejk –above all his humour.”

It has been 90 years since the first part of ‘The Good Soldier Švejk’ was published but it is worth noting that the character himself has a longer history, making an appearance in the author’s earlier work. Radko Pytlík again:

“Švejk made his first appearance in a satirical short story called Švejk Against Italy in 1911. So you could say this year sees a dual-anniversary: Švejk is both 90 and a 100-years-old.”