The Good Soldier Švejk facts for kids

For the asteroid, see 7896 Švejk. For other uses, see The Good Soldier Švejk (disambiguation).

Quick facts for kids
The Good Soldier Švejk

Author	Jaroslav Hašek
Original title	Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za světové války
Translator	Paul Selver, Cecil Parrott, Zdeněk "Zenny" K. Sadloň
Cover artist	Josef Lada
Country	Czechoslovakia
Language	Czech
Genre	Satire, black comedy
Set in	Central and Eastern Europe, 1914–15
Publisher	Book 1: A. Sauer and V. Čermák Book 2: Jaroslav Hašek (distributor A. Synek) Books 3 & 4: Jaroslav Hašek's Estate (distributor A. Synek)
Publication date	1921–1923
Published in English	1930 (Selver), 1973 (Parrott), 2000 (Sadlon)
Media type	Print (Hardcover, Paperback) & Amazon Kindle
Pages	228
Dewey Decimal	891.8635

The Good Soldier Švejk is a famous, unfinished adventure story by Czech writer Jaroslav Hašek. It was published between 1921 and 1923. The book is a satire, which means it uses humor, irony, or exaggeration to criticize people's foolishness or mistakes. It tells the story of a kind-hearted, simple man named Švejk. He seems very eager to serve the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I.

The full Czech title of the book is Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za světové války. This translates to The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk During the World War. It is the most translated Czech novel, available in over 50 languages around the world.

The Story of The Good Soldier Švejk
See also

The Story of The Good Soldier Švejk

How the Book Was Published

Jaroslav Hašek planned for Švejk to have six parts. However, he only finished three parts and started a fourth before he passed away on January 3, 1923.

The book's original drawings were made by Josef Lada after Hašek's death. More recently, Czech artist Petr Urban has also illustrated the story.

The completed parts are:

Behind the Lines (V zázemí, 1921)
At the Front (Na frontě, 1922)
The Glorious Licking (Slavný výprask, 1922)
The Glorious Licking Continues (Pokračování slavného výprasku, 1923; unfinished)

What the Story is About

The novel takes place during World War I in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This empire was made up of many different groups of people. The war was a very difficult time for many, and the book explores how pointless and challenging conflicts can be. It also looks at strict military rules.

Many parts of the story and its characters were inspired by Hašek's own time serving in the Austro-Hungarian Army. The book shows how many characters, especially the Czechs, were fighting in a war they didn't fully understand. They also didn't feel much loyalty to the empire they were serving.

The main character, Josef Švejk, often causes problems for military leaders. He does this through what seems like foolishness or not understanding things. This is a type of passive resistance, where he quietly goes against authority. Readers are left wondering if Švejk is truly simple-minded or if he's cleverly making fun of the system. For example, Švejk once gets captured by his own side because he is wearing a Russian uniform by mistake!

Plot Summary: Švejk's Adventures

Statue of Josef Švejk in Sanok, Poland

The story begins in Prague when news arrives about an important event in Sarajevo. This event helped start World War I.

Švejk acts very excited to serve the Austrian Emperor in the war. No one can tell if he's just a bit silly or if he's cleverly trying to avoid fighting. He gets arrested by a police officer, Bretschneider, for saying some things that were not politically correct. He is then sent to prison. After being declared unfit for service, he is sent to a special hospital, but then he is let go.

Statue of Josef Švejk in Przemyśl, Poland

Švejk asks his housekeeper to push him in a wheelchair to the army recruitment office in Prague. He claims to have a leg problem. His strong desire to join the army causes a stir. He is sent to a hospital for people who are pretending to be sick because of his leg issue. Eventually, he joins the army as a personal assistant to army chaplain Otto Katz. Katz was good at avoiding the front lines and had an easy job in Prague.

However, Katz loses Švejk in a card game bet to Senior Lieutenant Lukáš. Švejk then becomes Lukáš's assistant, which eventually leads him closer to the war front.

Lukáš's group is sent to barracks in České Budějovice, a town in Southern Bohemia. From there, they are supposed to go to the front. Švejk misses all the trains to Budějovice. He then starts a long journey on foot around Southern Bohemia, trying to find the town. He is arrested as a possible spy and deserter, which he strongly denies. Finally, he is taken to his regiment.

The regiment soon moves to Bruck an der Leitha, a town between Austria and Hungary. Here, where relations between the two countries were sometimes tricky, Švejk is arrested again. This time it's for causing trouble with a Hungarian citizen and getting into a street fight. He is also promoted to company orderly.

The unit then takes a long train journey towards Galicia and the Eastern Front. Near the front line, Švejk is mistakenly captured by his own side. This happens after he finds an abandoned Russian uniform by a lake and tries it on. He narrowly avoids being executed and manages to rejoin his unit. The unfinished novel ends before Švejk gets into any actual combat or enters the trenches.

The book also includes many funny stories Švejk tells. He often uses these stories to distract authority figures or to cleverly make fun of them. These stories are not always directly part of the main plot.

Important Characters in the Book

The characters in The Good Soldier Švejk are often used to show funny or silly situations. They also represent different types of people and groups found in the Austro-Hungarian Empire at that time. The way people speak, including different dialects and slang, is an important part of how characters are shown.

Some characters are based on real people who served in the army with Jaroslav Hašek. Many researchers have studied this, finding connections between the book's characters and real individuals.

How Švejk Influenced Culture

Švejk's seemingly simple-minded but clever way of dealing with problems has become part of the Czech language. Words like švejkovina (meaning "švejking" or acting like Švejk) and švejkovat ("to švejk") are used. These words describe situations that are absurd or silly, often caused by rules or systems.

The name "Schweik" has also entered the English dictionary. It describes a person who is unlucky and simple but also clever and able to find solutions, especially when dealing with powerful people.

In a 1979 TV show about silent films, director Frank Capra said that the character of comedian Harry Langdon was partly inspired by The Good Soldier Švejk.

Even today, Švejk is a well-known figure in Czech culture. For example, at a meeting in Prague in 2002, a man dressed as Švejk protested, showing how deeply the character is remembered.

Movies, Plays, and More: Švejk Adaptations

The story of Švejk has been turned into many different things. There are films, plays, an opera, a musical, comic books, and even statues of him. Restaurants in several European countries also use Švejk as a theme.

You can find statues and monuments of Švejk in places like Humenné in Slovakia, Przemyśl and Sanok in Poland, and several cities in Russia and Ukraine. The first statue of Švejk in the Czech Republic was put up in August 2014, in the village of Putim.

Film Adaptations

1931: Martin Frič directed The Last Bohemian, a comedy film with Saša Rašilov as Švejk.
1943: Schweik's New Adventures, also known as It Started at Midnight, was directed by Karel Lamac.
1955: The Czech animator Jiří Trnka created an animated film called The Good Soldier Schweik.
1956–57: The Good Soldier Schweik is a very famous film version. Czech director Karel Steklý made two color films starring Rudolf Hrušínský as Švejk.
1960: A West German film called The Good Soldier Schweik starred Heinz Rühmann.
1962: Velká cesta ("The Long Journey") was a Czechoslovak-Soviet film about parts of Hašek's life that inspired the book.
1986: A Czechoslovak puppetoon version, Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka, was released.
2009: An animated film, The Good Soldier Shweik, was made by the United Kingdom and Ukraine.
2018: The Good Soldier Schwejk, a British film, was directed by Christine Edzard.

TV Shows

1965: The BBC made a 60-minute TV show called The Good Soldier Schweik.
1967–68: In Finland, a ten-part TV series called Kunnon sotamies Svejkin seikkailuja was created.
1972: An Austrian TV series with 13 parts, Die Abenteuer des braven Soldaten Schwejk, was broadcast.

Other Adaptations

1927–1928: A stage play, The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schwejk, was adapted from the novel in Berlin.
1943: Bertolt Brecht wrote a play called Schweik in the Second World War, continuing Švejk's adventures into a later war.
1958: Robert Kurka's opera The Good Soldier Schweik premiered in New York City.
2008: BBC Radio 4 broadcast a two-part radio version of the story.

Bringing Švejk to Other Languages

The Good Soldier Švejk is the most translated Czech novel, available in 58 languages by 2013. Parts of the first chapter were translated into German by Max Brod in 1923, shortly after Hašek's death. Later, Grete Reiner's German translation in 1926 helped spread Švejk's fame across Europe. It was one of the books that were publicly burned by the National Socialists in 1933. After the war, many more translations followed, making Švejk the most famous Czech book abroad.

English Translations

Three English translations of Švejk have been published:

The Good Soldier Schweik, translated by Paul Selver, 1930. This version was shorter and some parts were left out or changed to be more suitable for a wider audience.
The Good Soldier Švejk and His Fortunes in the World War, translated by Cecil Parrott, 1973. This was the first complete translation into English.
The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk During the World War, translated by Zdeněk "Zenny" K. Sadloň (with Emmett Joyce for Book One). This translation came out in three volumes, starting in 1997 and finishing in 2009. A new "Centennial Edition" of Book One was released in 2024.