Hašek's legendary Cynological Institute was a short-lived dog-trading firm set up by Hašek and his wife shortly after leaving his post as editor of Svět zvířat. In the context of The Good Soldier Švejk, it matters because Švejk's occupation as a dog dealer was largely inspired by his creator's brief career as proprietor of the “institute”.
,16.11.1910
,21.4.1914
After his dismissal from Svět zvířat in 1910, Hašek set up his dog-trading firm under the imaginative name Kynologický ústav (Cynological Institute). From 16 November 1910 onwards, adverts appeared in Prager Tagblatt, Národní listy and Čech, offering purebred dogs at prices “half those” of the Hundeparks and breeding institutions — an obvious dig at his former employer up the hill above Klamovka (see Fuchsův psinec). One advert claims that the institute is the only one of its kind in Central Europe and warns against “mix-ups”, no doubt another swipe at Fuchs.
From 24 November 1910, the latter responded with unusually verbose adverts, again claiming to be world-famous and likewise warning against mix-ups. On 27 November and over the following week, adverts by the competing dog-sellers even appeared next to each other in Prager Tagblatt. The advertising war seems to have been short-lived, at least in the paper’s columns: Hašek’s last known entry was on 7 December, whereas his competitor continued to flood the newspaper for the rest of the year before reverting to the usual briefer notices.
The institute was officially registered on 24 November, in the name of his wife Jarmila Hašková, at Košíře no. 1125, below Klamovka. It is, however, unlikely that the dogs could have been kept there, as the recently married couple lived in a flat.
By February 1911 the firm had gone bankrupt, and there are various accounts of what happened. Josef Mach wrote that Hašek imported two hyenas from Hamburg, destined for a circus that ultimately did not take them; the loss on that deal was one of the reasons the firm collapsed. There are also reports of tinkering with pedigrees, and of his agent Čížek stealing dogs — themes with obvious parallels in The Good Soldier Švejk. Mach confirms that Čížek was put on trial for dog theft.
The couple were also taken to court, but on 9 March 1912 they received a letter from their lawyer František Papoušek, informing them that the proceedings had been discontinued.
In literature
Hašek himself immortalised the institute in two near-identical stories, Můj obchod se psy and Kynologický ústav. The first was included in the book Můj obchod se psy a jiné humoresky, published in 1915. The volume has been reprinted several times, and the title story was even filmed. The story is vague about where the dogs were kept, but the author suggests that the kennel was “in the countryside”, a motif that also appears in The Good Soldier Švejk.
Literature
- Kynologický ústav, Jaroslav Hašek,17.4.1914
- Můj obchod se psy a jiné humoresky, ,1915
- Živnotenský list, ,24.11.1910
- Kynologický ústav, ,17.11.1910
- Kynologisches Institut, ,23.11.1910
- Kynologický ústav, ,27.11.1910
- Kynologický ústav, ,30.11.1910
- Papoušek, František, ,9.3.1912
- Haškův svět zvířat, Augustin Knesl,1988