Who doesn’t know the story of the Good Soldier Švejk by the Czech writer and journalist Jaroslav Hašek (30. 4.1883, Prague – 3. 1.1923, Lipnice nad Sázavou). This year it is exactly 90 years since the legend of Czech literature departed from this world on the wings of the demon alcohol. If it hadn’t been for that, he would probably have completed his most famous novel, which even so has been translated into 54 di erent languages.
What was essential for Hašek, so to speak, was his Bohemian vagrant lifestyle, and this is exactly how he is remembered in the annals of Czech history. But was he really just a free-thinking genius à la Moza rt? Some sources claim that during his timein Russia (1916–1920), where he served as the commander of the Chuvash division of the Red Army and deputy military commander of the Bugulma district (1918), his conduct was somewhat brutal and his signature is attached to a considerable number of death sentences. In the eyes of the “young” Soviet Union, however, he was a capable man with good organisational skills, which allegedly led to his being sent back to whatwas by then Czechoslovakia in order to organise the communist movement. Truth or ction? And what about the supposed1 200 or so stories, many of which have not been preserved or have not been proven as being written by Hašek?
What is for certain, though, is that “The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk During the World War” (“Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za svetové války”) is some of the nest literature in this country and abroad. Hašek has been honoured by many, including the Bugulma people of Tatarstan, where there is a museum dedicated to him, and in Russia, where streets are named after him in Saint Petersburg and Moscow.
Erik Hlavácek
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Váš záznam bude z databáze Vydavatelstvím KAM po Česku s.r.o. vymazán neprodleně, nejpozději však v zákonné lhůtě.
