The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk: Book One

4,5⭐️

“Mas se nem num momento difícil uma pessoa se esquece do que é preciso fazer quando se está em guerra, penso que tal pessoa não é assim tão má.”

Jaroslav Hasek's Good Soldier Schweik is one of the great literary shapeshifters of all times. During the 1950s and 1960s it was thought to be the finest expression of the nation's Zeitgeist in both the United States and Czechoslavakia. The reasons for this feeling were diametrically opposed in the two nations. Unfortunately both groups of admirers misunderstood the book at least partically.
The first translation available in the United States was severely truncated and stopped before Schweik even arrived in Poland. While advancing with the Imperial Austro-hungarian towards Russia, the hero Schweik manages to get himself taken prisoner by his own army. The translator closes the book by implying that Schweik will pass the rest of the war in the safety of an Austrian-Hungarian POW camp. Thus Schweik finishes in the same way as Catch-22 where Orr crashes his bomber into the sea off Malta, inflates the life-raft and sails to safety in Sweden. My generation of North Americans who were violently opposed to sending conscripts to VietNam absolutely loved the book. Being a good French Canadian like Yann Martel I prefer to stick to this interpretation however false it may be because it seems to me to be the best.
My central European friends and relatives love Schweik because they see that it presents way the way they passively resisted the Communists who ruled their countries. After Stalin's death in 1953, the Central European countries (including most notably Czechoslovakia and Poland) rapidly transformed themselves from being Terror States to relatively benign Police States not greatly different from those of the of the Habsburg Empire. One lived surrounded by paid informants and was likely to fall victim to arbitrary arrest at any moment.
Life under communism was still noticeably worse than that under the Habsburgs. In the first thirty pages, Schweik is sentenced to three months in jail for commenting in a bar that the houseflies had shit on the portrait of Emperor Franz Joseph. My own father got a two year sentence for leaving his copy of the Bible in open view of the inter-city bus that he was employed to drive. This much said the Czechs, Poles and other Central Europeans of the 1950s and 1960s saw themselves as living in the same absurd environment that Schweik inhabited.
The fact of the matter is that in the Post-Stalin central European states one survived like Schweik by taking care to convince everyone around you that you were stupid. You prospered by dipping into the till when no one was looking. Schweik can certainly be enjoyed by viewing it as a book about passive resistance against Communism. However, the author Hasek was a communist and it is likely that this interpretation is also somewhat off the mark.
I think The Good Soldier Schweik can safely classifed a madcap romp combined with a Proustian homage to the exquisite Czech arts of brewing and sausage-making.
In terms of its literary structure, the novel resembles the vulgar half of a Midsummer Night's dream. Schweik (Robin Goodfellow) is an alcoholic army batman assigned to Oberleutnant Lukáš, (Oberon) who wildly flies about wrecking havoc everywhere.
When Oberleutnant Lukáš grows tired of his girlfriend he asks Schweik to throw her out of his apartment. To do so, Schweik sends a telegraph to the girlfriend's husband asking him to come and pick her up.
When Oberleutnant Lukáš askes Schweik to buy him a dog, Schweik steals an animal not realizing that it is the Field Marshall's pet. As a result Schweik and Oberleutnant Lukáš are sent to the front.
Next while stationed in Vienna, Oberleutnant Lukáš sends Schweik to beat up the husband of another girlfriend. Schweik dutifully does so but gets arrested in the process. The Viennese Press loudly denounces the brutally of the Czech troops. When the General in charge of the Czech contingent determines that the accusations are true he promotes Schweik to regimental Quartmaster.
Schweik's first action as quartermaster is to buy a cow that is so tough, the soldiers are still unable to eat it after it has been boiled for a week.
Schweik however quickly redeems himself through his remarkable ability to get his officers out of any brothel in time to make réveillé.
My favourite moment is when Schweik's regiment arrives at the Imperial Austro-Hungarian army base in my wife's hometown of Sanok Poland. The guard points his rifle at Schweik and Oberleutnant Lukáš saying: "Give me the pissword (pisseworte) or I will shit you (Scheißen). " Oberleutnant Lukáš is nervous but Schweik calmly gives the guard the password (passworte) and the guard does not shoot (which in this case is again Scheißen). Once they are out of the ear range of the guard, Schweik switches back to Czech and says to Oberleutnant Lukáš: "These Poles speak horrible German. They should be made to take lessons.
The Good Soldier Schweik is indeed a great masterpiece. It is certainly helps when you read it if you know a slavic language and have some experience speaking German when drunk. However, it is not necessary.
I have also seen a performance of the Schweik opera composed by Robert Kurka of Chicago. I strongly urge all Americans to attend a performance whenever they have a chance.

This book is hilarious. I love Svejk. I wish I could have his attitude to life. There's a Svejk restaurant in Prague that's got images of Svejk on napkins, menus, etc. Stumbled across it one night when we were freezing cold and didn't have any more Czech money and the place we were going to eat didn't take credit cards. It was the only place around that was open and warm. Truly a Svejk moment.

CWs: racial slurs

Най-великият чешки писател Ярослав Хашек (както той сам се определя) създава един от най-емблематичните образи на европейската литература – този на Швейк. Добър войник, който винаги изпълнява заповедите, само че съвсем буквално, идиот с огромен запас от поучителни истории от всички кътчета на Чехия – Швейк е това и много повече.
„— Я недейте гледа като идиот.
— Какво да правя — отговори Швейк сериозно, — аз бях освободен от военна служба за идиотизъм. Специална комисия ме провъзгласи официално за идиот. Аз съм доказан идиот.“
За да разберете истински книгата, трябва да имате поне елементарни познания за Първата световна война и за Австро-унгарската империя. Но дори и да падате от Марс, Хашек е толкова добър разказвач, че бързо ще влезете в релси и ще се смеете до припадък на преживяванията на Швейк и онези, които имат нещастието да са край него. Романът е една дебела тухла, но накрая ще ви се стори кратък. А пък е и незавършен – Хашек е тежко болен и диктува последните глави, умира без да успее да стигне до края на приключенията на добрия войник. Истинска загуба за всички читатели.
Първата световна война (а всъщност и всяка война) е трагична, глупава, жестока, излишна част от човешката история. Най-добрият начин човек да посреща подобни разрушителни събития е с несломимия оптимизъм и чувство за хумор, които ще намерите на всяка страница от тази книга.
В заключение ще кажа само, че „Швейк“ и „Пътеводител на галактическия стопаджия“ са двете най-смешни книги, които съм чел през живота си.

Una sátira de esas que no se olvidan. Hašek ilustra muy bien a Švejk, cómo se hace soldado, cómo "lucha" por el imperio austro-húngaro y todas las anécdotas que le suceden a éste. Cuando estaba en Praga, vi un restaurante llamado Švejk y me recordó inmediatamente al libro. Situaciones absurdas, por una guerra absurda (como todas las guerras) con anécdotas absurdas, pero que siempre condujeron a un mismo lugar: la armada.
Lo que creo que más gracia me causó fue que entre más soldado se sentía, más absurdo era todo... buen menaje subliminal.
¿Recomendable? ¡Absolutamente! Leer sobre tópicos serios y tristes en manera de sátira es simplemente genial.
Švejk siempre vivirá en mi corazón.

The Good Soldier Švejk is 752 pages long and yet on not a single one was I able to keep a straight face. A heartwarming mixture of colourful characters, hilarious satire and black humour makes for a fantastic masterpiece on the total futility of World War One. The only downside to the book which I can come up with is that fate didn't permit Jaroslav Hašek to finish it. We can only imagine how many other gifts Hašek could have given us. Rereading the book for the second time only reaffirmed for me its place among my favourite books of all time.

Ο «Καλός στρατιώτης Σβέικ» είναι ένα σατιρικό μυθιστόρημα, που τα καταφέρνει περίφημα να διακωμωδεί, παρά την τραγωδία της όλης κατάστασης, την στάση της Τσεχίας και κατ’ επέκταση της Αυστροουγγρικής Αυτοκρατορίας κατά τον Πρώτο Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο. Οι περιπέτειες του Ιωσήφ Σβέικ ξεκινούν από την Πράγα αμέσως μετά την δολοφονία του αρχιδούκα Φραγκίσκου Φερδινάνδου και καλύπτουν ολόκληρο το πρώτο έτος του πολέμου, και θα εκτείνονταν ακόμη περισσότερο εάν ο Γιάροσλαβ Χάσεκ προλάβαινε να ολοκληρώσει το έργο του πριν από τον θάνατό του το 1923.

Ετούτο το βιβλίο ήταν για ‘μένα τρομερή ανακάλυψη. Ήταν από τα αγαπημένα του πατέρα μου, που το παίνευε από τότε που θυμάμαι τον εαυτό μου, αλλά μου πήρε πάνω από δέκα χρόνια να πειστώ να το πιάσω (φοβόμουν πως δεν θα το άντεχα αν ο Σβέικ σκοτωνόταν στο τέλος…), και τώρα λιγάκι το μετανιώνω. Γέλασα πάρα πολύ, τόσο με τα καμώματα του καλού στρατιώτη (που δεν μπορείς να πεις αν είναι όντως διανοητικά καθυστερημένος ή αν το παίζει για να γλυτώνει από διάφορες άβολες καταστάσεις και να προσβάλλει τους ανωτέρους του χωρίς να φοβάται πως θα τον λιντσάρουν γι’ αυτό, ή θα τον περάσουν από στρατοδικείο, ή θα τον τουφεκίσουν), όσο και με την απελπισία των άλλων μαζί του. Ο φοβερός αλκοολικός ιερεύς Ότο Κατζ ήταν από τις καλύτερες εκπλήξεις σ’ αυτό το βιβλίο (οι διάλογοι ανάμεσα στον παπά και τον Σβέικ ήταν πραγματικά ένας κι ένας), και ο ερωτύλος υπολοχαγός Λούκας, που η αθωότητα και η καλή πρόθεση του Σβέικ τον τσάκιζαν σελίδα με την σελίδα, ήταν πραγματικά απολαυστικός.

Το ίδιο απολαυστική ήταν και η σάτιρα. Ο Γιάροσλαβ Χάσεκ παρουσιάζει το στρατιωτικό σύστημα της Τσεχίας (και κατ’ επέκταση της Αυστροουγγαρίας) όπως το έζησε εκείνος τα χρόνια του πολέμου, δίνοντας έμφαση στην τρομερά παράλογη και τρομερά βραδυκίνητη γραφειοκρατία του, στην αχρείαστη πολυπλοκότητά του και στην παρανοϊκή επιβολή λογοκρισίας του. Το μεγάλο του επίτευγμα είναι το πώς ο «ηλίθιος», όπως πολύ συχνά τον χαρακτηρίζει, καλός στρατιώτης Σβέικ καταφέρνει και ξεφεύγει από την εξίσου ηλίθια Αρχή παρά την καθυστέρησή του, υπερτονίζοντας έτσι την καθυστέρηση του ίδιου του συστήματος. Με τον ίδιο τρόπο η σάτιρα καυτηριάζει και τον στρατό, που οι άντρες του στέλνονται μεν στον πόλεμο (με ορισμένους να προτίθενται ακόμη και να θυσιάσουν τον εαυτό τους για τον «ξεμωραμένο Αυτοκράτορα», όπως ο ίδιος ο Σβέικ), αλλά χωρίς να γνωρίζουν τον λόγο για τον οποίο πολεμούν ή ακόμη και με ποιον ακριβώς, και δίχως να ενδιαφέρονται να τους μάθουν. Χαρακτηριστικά, ως αποτέλεσμα περισσότερο ξυπνά την ορμή τους η αγελάδα του Λίσκοβικ που δεν έδωσε κρέας για το συσσίτιο, παρά ο εχθρός ο ίδιος.

Πάντως, θα ήθελα πολύ να μάθω τι είχε κατά νου ο συγγραφέας για την πραγματική κατάληξη του καλού στρατιώτη Σβέικ. Θέλω να πιστεύω ότι η μοίρα του επεφύλασσε όμορφο τέλος, παρά τον πατριωτισμό του και την προθυμία του να πέσει για τον αυτοκράτορα. Ως τώρα το καλύτερο βιβλίο του 2021!