Many admirers of The Good Soldier Švejk may be unaware that the good soldier first appeared on the literary stage some years before the First World War. Švejk first saw the light of day in 1911, in five short stories published in the magazines Karikatury and Dobrá kopa. The first of these stories appeared in Josef Lada's magazine Karikatury on 22 May 1911; this date is often treated as Švejk's official birthday. The five stories were subsequently included in the book Dobrý voják Švejk a jiné podivné historky (The Good Soldier Švejk and other strange stories), part of the series Nová knihovna humoru a satiry by Hejda & Tuček. The book was published in the autumn of 1911, soon confiscated, and finally released in 1912.
An early predecessor
,28.2.1902
Even before The Good Soldier Švejk entered the world, Jaroslav Hašek had written stories with an army backdrop. The first of these appeared as early as 28 February 1902 in Národní listy, signed Jan Hašek. At the time, the budding author was only nineteen and still a student at the Czechoslavonic Commercial Academy (see Obchodní akademie) in Prague. A few more stories revolving around the same theme appeared over the next five years.
Then, on 30 January 1907, the anarchist paper Nová Omladina published a story that would have struck a chord with future readers of The Good Soldier Švejk. It was called Povídka o hodném švědském vojákovi (The story of a kind Swedish soldier). In this grotesque tale, a Swedish soldier on guard duty at 25 degrees below zero mutilates himself to avoid falling asleep and freezing to death. Yet death holds no fear for him, as he will, after all, perish honourably for the sake of King Oscar and the dear fatherland. He also cherishes army property more than his own miserable life and is loyally devoted to his officer. Although this unknown soldier has no name and does not utter a single word before he dies, he is clearly a familiar figure to readers of Švejk: he dies with a joyful heart for his king. One important distinction, though: the Swedish soldier died forlorn and miserable, whereas Švejk survived by his wits…
Five short stories
Hašek's concept for the company idiot.
According to Jarmila Haškova, sometime in the spring of 1911 her husband hit on the idea of creating a literary figure that he described as Pitomec v kumpanii (The Idiot in the Company). Hašek had scribbled down some lines on a scrap of paper when he arrived home in a sorry state; the text is hardly legible. Jarmila threw it in the bin, but Hašek frantically looked for it and managed to retrieve it.
On 22 May 1911, the first of the five stories appeared in Karikatury, so the idea for the character—jotted down on that piece of paper—likely took shape shortly before. Moreover, the name Švejk appeared in a couple of plays that Hašek co-wrote later that year. In one of those, Švejk assumes the role of servant to the Holy Roman Emperor (and Czech King) Charles I.
In this 1911 incarnation of Švejk, the main character appears to be a simple, good-natured figure and just as eager to serve his sovereign as his Swedish counterpart was four years earlier. Although he shares certain traits with the famous character from the novel, he lacks the sting and subtlety of the latter (any intended sting would presumably have been snuffed out by the censors). The style is also different: there are, for instance, no anecdotes. In all five stories, the plot is set in Trento (Trient) in South Tyrol, where the Dual Monarchy built a huge fortress complex to forestall a potential Italian attack up the Adige valley. As in the novel, Švejk creates havoc by carrying out orders to the letter. Hašek likely already intended him to be subversive, but this is far less explicit than in the later novel.
The five stories from 1911 are briefly summarised:
I. The Good Soldier Švejk
The first story about Švejk, reprinted in Chicago!
,8.7.1911
In the first story[a], Švejk makes a foray across the border into Italy, where he captures a donkey and a machine-gun. Before that, he is imprisoned several times. His standard phrase ‘Poslušně hlásím’ (I dutifully report) is already in place, and so is the use of colloquial Czech in dialogue. This story was reprinted in a couple of Czech-American newspapers in the summer.
II. The Good Soldier Švejk provides wine for the mass
The second story[b] starts with the author's musings on the institution of military clerics. Then, as in the novel, Švejk is ‘recruited’ by a field chaplain, in this case Augustinus Kleinschrodt. Švejk receives his marching orders from his feldkurát; he sets out from the camp in Castel-Nuovo to buy wine from ‘Vöslava’ (present-day Bad Vöslau) in Austria. Švejk carries out the order to the letter and travels by train up the Adige valley and through many a tunnel to fulfil his duty. What follows is an epic rail journey all the way to Bad Vöslau and back via Graz, Zagreb, Trieste and Trento. On the way, he is arrested and brought to the garrison in Korneuburg.
III. The Good Soldier Švejk and the superarbitration procedure
Švejk capturing an Italian donkey.
In the third story[c], Švejk diligently resists attempts to superarbitrate him, a theme carried over into the first passages of the novel.
IV. The Good Soldier Švejk learns how to handle gun cotton
In story number four[d], Švejk blows up a powder magazine by smoking his familiar pipe. He is the only survivor.
V. The Good Soldier Švejk operates in aeroplanes
Finally, in the fifth story[e], Švejk joins the budding k.u.k Air Force and flies off to Libya by accident, with his officer on board. Before getting this far, he crashed his plane into the Danube. According to the story, the entire Austrian air force consists of 18 airships (which are impossible to operate) and five aeroplanes.
The name
Deputy Josef Švejk re-elected from district 58, Kutná Hora
,14.6.1911
Why Jaroslav Hašek chose the name Švejk is not known, but the most likely inspiration was the agrarian deputy Josef Švejk. According to Radko Pytlík, this claim goes back to Václav Menger. In June 1911, elections to the Reichsrat took place and his name appeared frequently in the newspapers.
Another often touted inspiration is Josef Švejk, who actually lived next to U kalicha. This was, however, only from June 1912, so it is very unlikely that Hašek knew this person in 1911. Note that in the five stories the first name Josef is not mentioned, nor is there any association with U kalicha.
Hašek and the army, pre-war
Kniha o Švejkovi, s. 133
, 1982
Hašek never served in the army before World War I, and this is reflected in the five stories. The details that he provides rarely fit reality, a stark contrast to the many military facts that he provides in Dobrý voják Švejk v zajetí (1917) and The Good Soldier Švejk (1921). Few (if any) of the names of officers are found in the Schematismus, and when it comes to geography, he sets all the stories in Trento, a city that he probably visited, though hardly as a soldier. In one of the stories, he even mentions Infanterieregiment Nr. 104, a unit that did not exist at the time.
Radko Pytlík concludes that the stories were most likely inspired by the experiences of his friends, notably Josef Mach, who actually served in Trento as a one-year volunteer. Otherwise, Trento regularly hosted military units recruited from Bohemia, so many people may have shared their experiences with the future author of The Good Soldier Švejk. Units from Infanterieregiment Nr. 91, the regiment that Hašek eventually joined, were never garrisoned in Trento.
According to his age group, Hašek should have been called up on 1 October 1904, but on the 9th he had already published a story centred on him visiting Ladislav Hájek in Domažlice, on his way back from Switzerland and Bavaria. Most probably he had been deemed unfit for service in April when the military examining boards convened. The cause was probably a heart condition. It was only after the outbreak of war in 1914 that Hašek was finally passed fit for service.
Hašek's seal of confession in Reichsrat
,13.10.1911
On 29 November 1911, one of Jaroslav Hašek's stories from Dobrý voják Švejk a jiné podivné historky was the subject of an interpellation in the Chamber of Deputies of the Reichsrat. K.k. Landesgericht als Preßgericht in Prague had, on 18 November 1911, ordered the book to be confiscated.
Here the problem was not the five stories about Švejk but rather Zpovědní tajemství (The Seal of Confession), a story that was deemed blasphemous. A group of deputies headed by Fresl protested to the Minister of Justice. They pointed out that the story had already been printed in České Slovo in 1908, without being censored.
The eighteen signatories were: eleven from Česká strana národně sociální (Fresl, Vojna, Formánek, Klofáč, Choc, Stříbrný, Lisy, Konečný, Slavíček, Baxa, Šviha); three Czech independent progressives (Masaryk, Kalina, Prunar); two Czech agrarians (Masata, Bradač); and two Ukrainians (Breiter, Трильовський (Trylowskyj)). Note that the agrarian deputy Josef Švejk did not sign it …
The complaint appears to have been heeded because in 1912 the book was reprinted. The passages that had been censored were marked with a note about the petition, but nothing seems to have been removed. The interpellation did not mention Hašek or the title of the book explicitly.
Literature
- Dobrý voják Švejk, Jaroslav Hašek,22.5.1911 [a]
- Dobrý voják Švejk opatřuje mešní víno, Jaroslav Hašek,19.6.1911 [b]
- Superarbitrační řízení s dobrým vojákem Švejkem, Jaroslav Hašek,17.7.1911 [c]
- Dobrý voják Švejk učí se zacházet se střelnou bavlnou, Jaroslav Hašek,21.7.1911 [d]
- Dobrý voják Švejk působí u aeroplánů, Jaroslav Hašek,28.7.1911 [e]
- The Good Soldier Švejk: the first sketches, Jaroslav Hašek
- Stará vojna, Jan Hašek,28.2.1902
- Povídka o hodném švědském vojákovi, Jarmila Mayerová,30.1.1907
- Dobrý voják Švejk, ,8.7.1911
- Dobrý voják Švejk, ,12.9.1911
- Dobrý voják Švejk a jiné podivné historky, ,1911 (banned), 1912 (re-issued)
- Kundmachungen, ,23.11.1911
- Stenographische Protokolle - Abgeordnetenhaus, ,29.11.1911
- 58. Kuttenberg, ,14.6.1911
| a | Dobrý voják Švejk | Jaroslav Hašek | 22.5.1911 |
| b | Dobrý voják Švejk opatřuje mešní víno | Jaroslav Hašek | 19.6.1911 |
| c | Superarbitrační řízení s dobrým vojákem Švejkem | Jaroslav Hašek | 17.7.1911 |
| d | Dobrý voják Švejk učí se zacházet se střelnou bavlnou | Jaroslav Hašek | 21.7.1911 |
| e | Dobrý voják Švejk působí u aeroplánů | Jaroslav Hašek | 28.7.1911 |