This website is dedicated to The Fates of the Good Soldier Švejk in the World War*, written in 1921 and 1922 by Jaroslav Hašek (1883-1923). The Good Soldier Švejk, as the novel's title is often shortened to, is regarded as a satirical masterpiece and a pioneer of anti-war literature. Bertolt Brecht is reported to have named it one of the three most important novels of the century and wrote a play based on the book. Max Brod compared it to Don Quijote by Cervantes. Joseph Heller and his Catch 22 are often mentioned in the same breath as Švejk, along with Rabelais, Dickens and Twain. The Good Soldier Švejk has been translated into 54 languages (59 if variations such as American English are counted) and is arguably the best-known novel ever written in Czech.*) A literal translation of the title.
Stupidity uncovered
The cover of the first instalment from March 1921, drawn by Josef Lada. This is the only drawing of Švejk that Hašek ever saw. The better-known rotund version first appeared on 11 November 1923 in České Slovo. This was ten months after Hašek's death. Picture courtesy of Richard Hašek, the author's grandson.
Jaroslav Hašek's satire is biting, at times base, but never vulgar. First and foremost, it is a sharp attack on human stupidity. What strikes the reader is the lack of respect for institutions and authority. It is not a coincidence that The Good Soldier Švejk, on several occasions, has been banned. The authorities that have reacted in this way have felt their sore toes trodden on, and for good reason.
Many readers associate the novel with humour first and foremost, but the message is serious and timeless. The sting is directed against systems created by humans, against people who abuse their positions within these power structures for personal gain or toe the line due to their limited outlook, selfishness, fear, greed, cowardice, stupidity, or the most tragic reason of all: a lack of alternatives.
Corruption and abuse of power are not limited to the era and geographical region that Hašek described; it is a phenomenon deeply ingrained in human nature. The Good Soldier Švejk will, therefore, remain relevant as long as human beings exist on Earth. The novel has strong geographical, historical, and cultural ties to Central Europe, but this does not make it less universal.
Setting
The Good Soldier Švejk is set at the start of the First World War. It begins with the news of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 and ends at the Eastern Front in present-day Ukraine in the summer of 1915. Owing to the author's early death, the novel was never completed, despite Karel Vaněk finishing the fourth and adding two further volumes. These are, by most experts and readers, deemed inferior, and hardly any translation exists.
Švejk
Švejk in a coloured edition from 1953. Drawn by Josef Lada.
The main character of the novel, Josef Švejk, was a dog trader from Prague, then part of Austria-Hungary. He made a living by selling dogs whose pedigrees he falsified, and he also liked to say that he was dismissed from the army due to alleged idiocy. Note that this is information he reserved for his encounters with the authorities. Otherwise, he had a gentle, charming, and disarming manner; his mental outlook was seemingly limited, his moral substance appeared dubious, and he was known for producing endless anecdotes, some of which were quite unsavoury. The stories were often his way of extricating himself from difficult situations. He was very good at talking, always had an answer or explanation ready, and was never caught off guard. Despite not appearing to be clever, he undoubtedly had a good memory and read a great deal.
Misunderstood idiocy
Everyone from academics to the person in the street has, since the novel was published, discussed whether Švejk was mentally constrained or simply played the fool. He could clearly appear stupid when it suited him. Still, anyone who has read the novel attentively should not be in doubt. In the epilogue to Part One, Hašek states that if the reader had perceived Švejk to be an idiot, he as an author had failed to convey his message.
The art of survival
Švejk appeared eager to serve his Emperor and was sent to the front to fight the Russians. He and those around him became entangled in innumerable absurd situations on his journey there. The author uses this as a backdrop for ridiculing the Austro-Hungarian army, the Catholic Church, the police, the judiciary, and not least the Habsburg Empire. But above all, the pointlessness of the entire war is highlighted. Moreover, the book has many more facets than anti-authoritarian and anti-war satire. The former anarchist Jaroslav Hašek is obviously political and critical of society. He describes this epoch in European history, offering a geographical and historical context, and gives the reader an idea of the cultural diversity in the region. The novel is a key work for anyone interested in Czech or Central European culture. Besides the serious main message, situation comedy and slapstick are vital parts of Hašek's method. The author is at his best when he describes the absurd situations in the lives of ordinary people, entangled in systems designed to oppress or destroy them. Švejk survives and uncovers the stupidity with his cunning and wit. Švejk himself was a master in the art of survival par excellence.
Inspired by real life
Advert for the German translation of Švejk.
,18.7.1926
Despite the literary influences mentioned at the start of this page, The Good Soldier Švejk is a novel that is far more inspired by Jaroslav Hašek's own life and varied experiences than by Cervantes or Rabelais. German writer Kurt Tucholsky (a.k.a Ignaz Wrobel) enthused: L(in the whole world of literature, I know of no novel comparable to this one). Švejk's route to the front line is described in detail and largely corresponds to the author's own journey to the battlefield in Galicia in the early days of July 1915. Several characters and situations are borrowed directly from the author's surroundings and experiences. Although the characters in the novel are often caricatures that never fully correspond to their real-life counterparts, they are still recognisable, even down to biographical details. Although the novel is fiction, it may, to some degree, be read as a historical document. The author's diverse background and extensive knowledge are reflected throughout the novel. He provides detailed descriptions of drinking binges, the Catechism, meal preparation, historical events, stays in lunatic asylums, religious rituals, and dog breeding – most of it based on the author's own experiences.
What was not written
Had the author not died before he could finish the fourth of the planned six volumes, we can assume that Švejk, like his creator, would have let himself be captured by the Russians, served in the Legions, worked for the Bolsheviks and eventually ended up in Siberia. Hašek's detailed plan for his good soldier we will never know, but it can be taken for granted that he planned to cover the time in Russia, including the Civil War. To what extent the satire would have been directed against the Legions and the Bolsheviks, we can only guess, but to judge from what Hašek actually wrote in Russia and after his return to Bohemia, they would not have been spared. That said, the criticism would probably not have been as severe as that directed against Austria-Hungary in the first four parts of the novel. The Bugulma stories that appeared in early 1921 indicate a more conciliatory tone. Certain aspects of the Russian Revolution are ridiculed, but the author does not show the venom that we know from The Good Soldier Švejk. Hašek did not like to be asked what he had done in Russia, and when the theme was brought up, he retorted that those who wanted to know better had to wait for the novel. Unfortunately, he never got to that part...
The return that never happened
Undoubtedly, Jaroslav Hašek would have let Švejk return to Prague unhurt, let him drink his Velké Popovice pivo at U kalicha šest hodin večer, this time with Sappeur Vodička, free from the instruments of oppression in the guise of detective Bretschneider, whose lingering odour poisoned the air. We may well speculate on what he was to experience from mid-July 1915 until his return to Prague in 1920. Still, Hašek would surely have continued to roughly align the itinerary of his literary hero to his own journey across the Eurasian continent. It may also be that Hašek would have let Švejk experience the same rejection and hostility that he as a "Bolshevik" and "traitor" lived through when he returned to the now independent Czechoslovakia in December 1920.
The motivation behind creating this website back in 2009 was, despite the novel's and the author's global fame, the lack of internet resources on Švejk and Hašek in any of the Nordic languages. I started off in Norwegian only but soon realised that an English translation of the pages would reach a much wider public. Thus, the English version has long been in place. Apart from presenting the author and the novel, existing information is presented in a hopefully novel way and some previously unknown information has been added. The Good Soldier Švejk is replete with references to places, people and institutions – probably around 2,000. The array of people and places is so vast that for the dedicated reader, it would be useful to have an overview of the often little-known individuals, places and institutions (now largely defunct) that Jaroslav Hašek mentions. I have, therefore, created lists in all three categories, a task still in progress (2025). The descriptions contain, where possible, links to internet resources and, in some cases, archive and library material collected by the author of this website.