Chose between Schweik and Svejk.
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One of my top three favourite books [with' Catch 22' and' Ulysses'], The Good Soldier Schweik is a treat every time. I wanted to point out the differences between the older translation by Paul Selver ['Schweik'], and the 1973 one [Svejk'] by Cecil Parrott. The Selver version is under 500 pages long and the Parrott over 700, and Parrott also has more of the wonderful Josef Lada illustrations [Penguin and Heinemann editions], but Selver lands the knockout blow by being funnier. His prose is fresh and lively where Parrott's is often stilted and cumbersome. Reading the two translations side-by-side is fascinating; how the small differences build to make one book good and the other one great. If you can be bothered, get both versions, but if you're only getting one, be sure it's the pre-1973 Selver!
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Timeless, humorous, wonderful
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As someone who often has trouble with books not written in the last 30 years, I was a little daunted at the idea of reading a book written at the time of the First World War. I needn't have been - the humour, satire and sarcasm are of a kind that seem extremely modern. The book is a sheer joy to read, very easy going, and will have you splitting your sides with laughter. The only minus is that Hasek died before completing his novel, but this still doesn't stop it from being, without a doubt, one of the best books I have ever read.
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maybe the best novel of the 20th century
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Svejk is not the sort of novel that would appeal to James Joyce, Virginia Woolf or Henry James fans. In many ways it completely disregards ellusive modernity, and deals with things that would have interested Rabelais and Aristophanes: food, drink and sex. Simultaneously its characters find themselves in the butchery of the First World War, and do all they can to get themselves out of it. Hasek is no Remark, and his protagonists are so adept at getting out of the front, that by the (incomplete) end of the book there has still been no actual fighting in it.
Just like Rabelais, Hasek successfully subverts any form of authority. Alhtough Hasek became a communist towards the end of his life, he remained at heart an out-and-out anarchist. Much of his venom is directed at the corrupt and decaying state of Austria-Hungary, but the most choice specimens of it are those reserved for the Church and for religion of all kinds.
Svejk himself is very like Hamlet in one important way: just as it is almost impossible to give a definite answer to whether Hamlet is mad or not, so it is impossible to give a definite answer to the main question surrounding Svejk: is he a patent imbecile or not? In another sense he is much bigger than Hamlet, since he takes over directly the structure of the work, and twists, chops and defines it accordingly. He always tells grotesque stories, supposedly to illustrate a moral of some kind, but these always seem to drift and swerve wildly away, and end up proving nothing at all or something totally different to his avowed aim. They impede the flow of the narrative so much, that by the end there is almost no narrative, just a morrass of subversions, each more hilarious than the one that preceded it.
It definitely is a prime contender for book of the past century.
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still as good as i remembered it
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i'll not rehash the plot of the book again, as others have done it better and at greater length below. just one small observation tho'... i originally came to this book as a teenager, many moons ago, as a devotee of sven hassel's blood'n'gore war novels. after very few pages of 'the good soldier...' i realised that 'svejk' is the model for obergefreiter josef porta in the sven hassel novels. so i'd also like to add this slightly less obvious recommendation: all you josef porta fans out there, get a copy of 'the good soldier svejk..' and spot the similarities.
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Beats Catch 22, any day
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For years I thought Catch 22 was the ultimate anti war novel. I even saw a lecture by Joseph Heller before he died. While I won't take away the brilliance of Hellers book, it pales into significance to Haseks.
Firstly, it takes a stance not usually taken by other writers. Wars are fought by soldiers, not nations. Svejk was one of those soldiers, and he was a) unwilling and b) not very good at it.
To that end, he spends his entire time winding up his superior officer ( Leuitentant Lukas, who, believe it or not, won Svejk in a game of cards), obstinately defying pompous officers ( the chapter where he drinks a bottle of schanps in front of Leutentant Dub is a classic), and generally being a pain in the backside.
All the time though, you get a feeling that this is an ordinary man, caught up in an insane set of events. That he has to fight is inevitable, but deep down, he remains the dog seller that inhabits U Celska, a seedy pub in Prague.
What he goes through is exactly the same as soldiers in WW1, WW2 or the latest conflict in Iraq.
The only down side of this book is that Hasek died in mid paragraph. It kind of throws you, but if you use a little imagination, you will make up your own conclusion to this story.
If you don't buy it on Amazon, buy it elsewhere. This book will truly enhance your life
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