The Good Soldier Švejk - Jaroslav Hašek

Oh my god this is incredible!! I saw a load of the animation a few months ago. Thank you!

There was a two-part film made in Czechoslovakia in the '50s and in Germany in 1960 (I think). The Czech actor looks almost exactly like the drawings!

There were films? I had no idea. Links?

Great addition to library in any case.

So much love for this book. Read for the first time thirty years ago (FFFFFFUUUUU).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8T6urTz3S0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwWexJ72MbI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMehH5mCwd8

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053674/
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Soldier-Schweik-Franz-Muxeneder/dp/B00074CC14

Hmm.. I swear I've seen a version with Klaus Kinsky. Thought It was directed by Werner Herzog but I can't find any evidence of it on the interwebz.

Ah, I recently gave up defeated. It had been sitting round on my bedside table for most of the last year. Only got up to the part where the Chaplain sold him to Lieutenant Lukas, I guess that's about a third of the way through. I feel inadequate now.

This is one of the best books ever. The translation is a bit stodgy though. There is however, a new print on demand translation doing the rounds. The original Penguin translator did Hašek's The Red Commissar which contains the further adventures of Švejk and other stories. I've also got an Esperanto language collection called Ne nur Soldato Ŝvejk (Not only soldier Ŝvejk), which contains a fair bit of autobiographical stuff.

One of my favourite stories about Hašek was when he somehow got this job as editor of a nature magazine. He got fired when, for a laugh, he published articles about animals he's just made up :D

A great book though you have to be in the mood to really enjoy it.

‘The Bad Bohemian – The Life of Jaroslav Hasek’ (Abacus/Sphere 1983), by Sir Cecil Parrott is informative about his life, though rather ‘stuffy’ as indicated by the author’s name!

‘The Bad Bohemian – The Life of Jaroslav Hasek’ (Abacus/Sphere 1983), by Sir Cecil Parrott is informative about his life, though rather ‘stuffy’ as indicated by the author’s name!

http://socialiststories.net/liberate/The%20Bad%20Bohemian%20-%20Cecil%20Parrott.pdf

All along the line,' said the volunteer, pulling the blanket over him, 'everything in the army stinks of rottenness. Up till now the wide-eyed masses haven't woken up to it. With goggling eyes they let themselves be made into mincemeat and then when they're struck by a bullet they just whisper, "Mummy!" Heroes don't exist, only cattle for the slaughter and the butchers in the general staffs. But in the end every body will mutiny and there will be a fine shambles. Long live the army! Goodnight!

Svejk monument in Poland :)

http://visit.przemysl.pl/media/photo/133

So true there!

Loved it when I was younger, should give it a re-read.

Yes, there have been film version. See for yourself:
https://svejkcentral.com/Film

Chilli Sauce wrote: There were films? I had no idea. Links?

Great addition to library in any case.

There has been a lot of disinformation promulgated about The Good Soldier Švejk and his creator, Jaroslav Hašek. To get nothing but real information about the work, the author, and the milieu they've operated in, all you need to do is visit https://honsi.org/svejk, run by the President of the International Society of Jaroslav Hašek.

Reddebrek wrote: Apparently Svejk was originally a serial character, I've added the collection of the original sketches before Hasek began the novel.

Also the site I got these from has a pretty extensive bio and collection of his writings http://socialiststories.net/writers/jaroslav-hasek/

You're not inadequate. Chances are you're reading the wrong translation:

"...it is a relief to get to page 752 in the clunky 1970's translation by Sir Cecil Parrott, once the British ambassador to Czechoslovakia but no literary stylist. ... [it] has such stilted language that reading it is a slog ... A more recent translation of the first volume, by Zenny K. Sadlon and Mike Joyce, is far more fluent." - Caryn James, Critic at Large, The New York Times

slothjabber wrote: Ah, I recently gave up defeated. It had been sitting round on my bedside table for most of the last year. Only got up to the part where the Chaplain sold him to Lieutenant Lukas, I guess that's about a third of the way through. I feel inadequate now.

The latest and the best English version, 1st edition (all three volumes) and The Centennial Edition (Book One, with the remaining two volumes coming out in 2025)
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=keenan%2C+sadlon+%26+lord%2C+inc

The link you used is broken. It actually pointed to The Report: https://svejkcentral.com/The%20Report

And here is a special bonus, just for you... :-) https://honsi.org/svejk/?page=7&lang=en&name=Blecha#title

Serge Forward wrote: This is one of the best books ever. The translation is a bit stodgy though. There is however, a new print on demand translation doing the rounds. The original Penguin translator did Hašek's The Red Commissar which contains the further adventures of Švejk and other stories. I've also got an Esperanto language collection called Ne nur Soldato Ŝvejk (Not only soldier Ŝvejk), which contains a fair bit of autobiographical stuff.

One of my favourite stories about Hašek was when he somehow got this job as editor of a nature magazine. He got fired when, for a laugh, he published articles about animals he's just made up :D

Here's a list, including photographs, of all statues of or pertaining to The Good Soldier Švejk:
https://svejkcentral.com/Sculpture

augustynww wrote: Svejk monument in Poland :)

http://visit.przemysl.pl/media/photo/133

You're in luck, because the best English translation got even better:

Publishers Weekly's October BookLife supplement review of The Centennial Edition of The Fateful Adventures of the The Good Soldier Švejk, Book One:
EDITOR'S PICK
Readers familiar with Hašek’s satirical Czech novel of war and survival only from earlier English translations will likely be jolted by Sadlon’s version...
... Hašek’s masterpiece is revealed, in Sadlon’s handling, as a book of greater bite, heft, and complexity.
The result is challenging and provocative, a century on.
Takeaway: Illuminating translation of the human complexity of a Czech classic.
https://booklife.com/project/the-fateful-adventures-of-the-good-soldier-vejk-during-the-world-war-book-one-95475

Available from Ingram Content Catalog: ISBN: 979-8-218-48708-9

https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?O6khAYaNz4UavvvsGN73CJNEs2VFt5FhKOK0SjyqQs9

altemark wrote: Loved it when I was younger, should give it a re-read.

Responses from readers: on the page https://svejk.zenny.com/readers_commentsNN.html

Fozzie wrote: Thanks Chodounsky - good info. Also reassuring for me as I found the Penguin version a bit of a slog like others here.