The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk During the World War, Book(s) Three & Four

by Jaroslav Hašek


Formats

Softcover
£16.49
£8.60
Softcover
£8.60

Book Details

Language : English
Publication Date : 15/05/2009

Format : Softcover
Dimensions : 5x8
Page Count : 296
ISBN : 9781438916774

About the Book

This is the last volume of the The Fateful Adventures Of The Good Soldier Švejk During The World War containing Book Three and Book Four. Jaroslav Hašek planned to write six books but passed away before completing Book Four. That is why the book is considered unfinished. Yet, it can be argued the author, under pressure from his deteriorating health, indeed completed his thoughts and "closed the books" on the book that made him famous quite well.


About the Author

In these "politically correct" times Jaroslav Hašek and his book have been charged at times by a few individuals as being antisemitic. The Hebrew translator of the work, Ruth Bondi, exclaimed in a phone conversation between Tel Aviv and Chicago in her native Czech: "To je hovadina!", "That is beastly crud!", a somewhat polite Czech equivalent of "That is B.S.!"

"Ruth Bondi was born in Prague.  . . .She came to Israel in 1948, after spending most of the war years in Ghetto Terezín, or Theresienstadt by its German name.  When Bondi was a child, Hasek was practically forbidden literature; it was not allowed to poison children's minds with Švejk stories.  It wasn't until she became resident of the Ghetto that she began to learn about the tremendous importance of Švejk. People in the Ghetto quoted Švejk all the time, and some could actually recite whole chapters by heart; the spirit of Švejk was so fitting to Ghetto life that one writer began to write the new adventures of Švejk in the Ghetto: He stands in the wrong line at city hall, has his ID stamped with the letter "J," and ends up in Terezín.  The book was not completed as the writer died in the whereabouts of Auschwitz."

from the Animal Review Makes the Scene: Švejk by Avner Shats