Schweik
Illustration by Josef Lada
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| Author | Jaroslav Hašek |
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| Original title | Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za světové války |
| Translator | Paul Selver, Cecil Parrott, |
| Country | Czechoslovakia |
| Language | Czech |
| Genre | Satire, black comedy |
| Set in | Central and Eastern Europe, 1914–18 |
| Publisher | A. Synek |
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Publication date
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1921–23 |
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Published in English
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1930 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 228 |
| OCLC | P306.2 |
| 891.8635 | |
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Original text
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at Czech |
The Good Soldier Švejk (pronounced [ˈʃvɛjk]), also spelled Schweik, Shveyk or Schwejk) is the abbreviated title of an unfinished satirical/dark comedy novel by Jaroslav Hašek. The original Czech title of the work is Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za světové války, literally The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk During the World War. It is the most translated novel of Czech literature.
Švejk has become a byword in the Czech Republic.
The novel was originally illustrated by Josef Lada and more recently by Czech illustrator Petr Urban.
Hašek originally intended Švejk to cover a total of six volumes, but had completed only three (and started on the fourth) upon his death from heart failure on January 3, 1923. Following Hašek's death, journalist Karel Vaněk was asked by the publisher Adolf Synek to complete the unfinished novel. This continuation was released as Švejk in Russian Captivity and Revolution (Švejk v Ruském Zajetí a Revoluci).
The volumes are:
The novel is set during World War I in Austria-Hungary, a multi-ethnic empire full of long-standing ethnic tensions. Fifteen million people died in the War, one million of them Austro-Hungarian soldiers including around 140,000 who were Czechs. Jaroslav Hašek participated in this conflict and examined it in The Good Soldier Švejk.
Many of the situations and characters seem to have been inspired, at least in part, by Hašek's service in the 91st Infantry Regiment of the Austro-Hungarian Army. The novel also deals with broader anti-war themes: essentially a series of absurdly comic episodes, it explores the pointlessness and futility of conflict in general and of military discipline, Austrian military discipline in particular. Many of its characters, especially the Czechs, are participating in a conflict they do not understand on behalf of an empire to which they have no loyalty.
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