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245the good soldIer ŠveJkThe Good Soldier ŠvejkJaroslav Hašek, translated by Paul Selver, 1930Jaroslav Hašek was a comic genius in the flesh as well as in fiction. As editor of a magazine called Animal World in pre-First World War Prague, he livened it up by introducing formerly unnoted animals. His discovery of a fossilised flea caused a sensation, and when he advertised a pair of thoroughbred werewolves for sale the office was flooded with applications. He seems to have decided that the best way of dealing with a world full of fanatics was to agree with them as eagerly as possible, since opposition would only make them worse. When war came, he joined the Austrian army, got himself captured by the Russians, became an ardent tsarist, and then, with the Bolshevik revolution, mutated into a commissar with the Red Army and editor of Red Europe.A similar policy of non-resistance is adopted by his hero Švejk. When the novel starts in 1914 he has been discharged from the army for some years as a congenital idiot and is living peacefully in Prague attended by his charwoman, Mrs Muller. Her announcement that the Archduke Franz Ferdinand has been assassinated in Sarajevo in a car prompts a typical Švejkism: ‘Well, there you have it, Mrs Muller; in a car. A gentleman like him can afford it.’ Whether irony or stupidity predominates in such remarks is the question that soon perplexes the military authorities. For Švejk, re-entering the Austrian army with an alacrity rare among the Emperor’s Czech subjects, finds himself confronting medical boards and courts of enquiry who earnestly enquire whether he is truly such a half-wit as he seems. ‘Humbly report, sir, I am,’ he invariably responds, beaming at them with his innocent blue eyes.In encounters with superior officers he readily concurs with even their most insulting and bloodthirsty propositions. No one applauds pep-talks by the top brass more fervently. It would be glorious, he agrees, to be run through with a bayonet, and even grander to be
© Yale University Press, New Haven

245the good soldIer ŠveJkThe Good Soldier ŠvejkJaroslav Hašek, translated by Paul Selver, 1930Jaroslav Hašek was a comic genius in the flesh as well as in fiction. As editor of a magazine called Animal World in pre-First World War Prague, he livened it up by introducing formerly unnoted animals. His discovery of a fossilised flea caused a sensation, and when he advertised a pair of thoroughbred werewolves for sale the office was flooded with applications. He seems to have decided that the best way of dealing with a world full of fanatics was to agree with them as eagerly as possible, since opposition would only make them worse. When war came, he joined the Austrian army, got himself captured by the Russians, became an ardent tsarist, and then, with the Bolshevik revolution, mutated into a commissar with the Red Army and editor of Red Europe.A similar policy of non-resistance is adopted by his hero Švejk. When the novel starts in 1914 he has been discharged from the army for some years as a congenital idiot and is living peacefully in Prague attended by his charwoman, Mrs Muller. Her announcement that the Archduke Franz Ferdinand has been assassinated in Sarajevo in a car prompts a typical Švejkism: ‘Well, there you have it, Mrs Muller; in a car. A gentleman like him can afford it.’ Whether irony or stupidity predominates in such remarks is the question that soon perplexes the military authorities. For Švejk, re-entering the Austrian army with an alacrity rare among the Emperor’s Czech subjects, finds himself confronting medical boards and courts of enquiry who earnestly enquire whether he is truly such a half-wit as he seems. ‘Humbly report, sir, I am,’ he invariably responds, beaming at them with his innocent blue eyes.In encounters with superior officers he readily concurs with even their most insulting and bloodthirsty propositions. No one applauds pep-talks by the top brass more fervently. It would be glorious, he agrees, to be run through with a bayonet, and even grander to be
© Yale University Press, New Haven

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xii
  4. INTRODUCTION 1
  5. CULTURAL HISTORY
  6. The Mediterranean in History edited by David Abulafia, 2003 9
  7. The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve: The Story that Created Us 13
  8. Madness in Civilization: A Cultural History of Insanity 16
  9. Eat Me: A Natural and Unnatural History of Cannibalism 19
  10. Stonehenge 22
  11. Universe of Stone: Chartres Cathedral and the Triumph of the Medieval Mind 25
  12. Vauxhall Gardens: A History 29
  13. A Thing in Disguise: The Visionary Life of Joseph Paxton 33
  14. Singled Out: How Two Million Women Survived Without Men after the First World War 36
  15. Private Words: Letters and Diaries from the Second World War 40
  16. In the Fifties 43
  17. The Greatest Shows on Earth: A History of the Circus 46
  18. A Great Feast of Light: Growing Up Irish in the Television Age 49
  19. Consuming Passions: Leisure and Pleasure in Victorian Britain 53
  20. IQ: The Brilliant Idea that Failed 56
  21. The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies: Almost Always Do Better 60
  22. Leadville: A Biography of the A40 64
  23. SCIENCE
  24. The Jewel House: Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution 71
  25. Darwin’s Island: The Galapagos in the Garden of England 75
  26. Darwin’s Sacred Cause: Race Slavery and the Quest for Human Origins 75
  27. The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science 79
  28. You’re Looking Very Well: The Surprising Nature of Getting Old 82
  29. The Science of Love and Betrayal 86
  30. Laughter: A Scientific Investigation 89
  31. Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears 89
  32. Mauve: How One Man Invented a Colour that Changed the World 93
  33. Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood 95
  34. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer 98
  35. Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine, and What Matters in the End 102
  36. MEMOIRS
  37. The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: The Hidden World of a Paris Atelier 109
  38. No Voice from the Hall: Early Memories of a Country House Snooper 113
  39. Gypsies: An English History 116
  40. Fishing in Utopia: Sweden and the Future that Disappeared 119
  41. Family Secrets 122
  42. Swimming with My Father: A Memoir 126
  43. Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense 129
  44. Publisher 132
  45. Untold Stories 135
  46. Grayson Perry: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl 139
  47. Naked at Lunch: The Adventures of a Reluctant Nudist 142
  48. Ahead of the Class: How an Inspiring Headmistress Gave Children Back Their Future 145
  49. Worrying: A Literary and Cultural History 148
  50. Alamein to Zem Zem 151
  51. ANTHROPOLOGY
  52. Feast: Why Humans Share Food 157
  53. The Reinvention of Humanity: A Story of Race, Sex, Gender and the Discovery of Culture 161
  54. Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle 164
  55. Letters to Lily on How the World Works 167
  56. BIOGRAPHY
  57. The Fortunes of Francis Barber: The True Story of a Jamaican Slave Who Became Samuel Johnson’s Heir 173
  58. Sarah: The Life of Sarah Bernhardt 176
  59. Bulwer Lytton: The Rise and Fall of a Victorian Man of Letters 180
  60. Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett 183
  61. Samuel Beckett: The Last Modernist 183
  62. The World of Samuel Beckett, 1906–1946 183
  63. Eric Gill 187
  64. Betjeman: The Bonus of Laughter 190
  65. Eileen: The Making of George Orwell 194
  66. The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul 197
  67. Hergé: The Man Who Created Tintin 200
  68. The Last Englishman: The Double Life of Arthur Ransome 204
  69. Furious Interiors: Wales, R.S. Thomas and God 207
  70. LITERATURE
  71. The Poet’s Tale: Chaucer and the Year that Made the Canterbury Tales 213
  72. Shakespeare’s Language 216
  73. Shakespeare’s Wife 219
  74. The Letters of Charles Dickens, Volume Eight: 1856–1858 223
  75. The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, 2 vols 226
  76. The Short Sharp Life of T.E. Hulme 230
  77. Robert Graves and the White Goddess, 1940–1985 233
  78. Robert Graves: Life on the Edge 233
  79. Robert Graves: Collected Writings on Poetry 233
  80. The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Volume 2: 1956–1963 238
  81. Faulks on Fiction: The Secret Life of the Novel 241
  82. The Good Soldier Švejk 245
  83. BACK TO NATURE
  84. Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature 251
  85. Orchard: A Year in England’s Eden 255
  86. Owl Sense 257
  87. The Spade as Mighty as the Sword: The Story of World War Two’s Dig for Victory Campaign 260
  88. Bertie, May and Mrs Fish: Country Memories of Wartime 264
  89. Running for the Hills: A Family Story 267
  90. MIND BENDERS
  91. A Short Treatise of the Great Virtues: The Uses of Philosophy in Everyday Life 273
  92. The Human Touch: Our Part in the Creation of the Universe 276
  93. The Clock Mirage: Our Myth of Measured Time 280
  94. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 283
  95. VEGETABLE GARDENING
  96. Vegetable Gardening 289
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https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300268461-074

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS xii
  4. INTRODUCTION 1
  5. CULTURAL HISTORY
  6. The Mediterranean in History edited by David Abulafia, 2003 9
  7. The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve: The Story that Created Us 13
  8. Madness in Civilization: A Cultural History of Insanity 16
  9. Eat Me: A Natural and Unnatural History of Cannibalism 19
  10. Stonehenge 22
  11. Universe of Stone: Chartres Cathedral and the Triumph of the Medieval Mind 25
  12. Vauxhall Gardens: A History 29
  13. A Thing in Disguise: The Visionary Life of Joseph Paxton 33
  14. Singled Out: How Two Million Women Survived Without Men after the First World War 36
  15. Private Words: Letters and Diaries from the Second World War 40
  16. In the Fifties 43
  17. The Greatest Shows on Earth: A History of the Circus 46
  18. A Great Feast of Light: Growing Up Irish in the Television Age 49
  19. Consuming Passions: Leisure and Pleasure in Victorian Britain 53
  20. IQ: The Brilliant Idea that Failed 56
  21. The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies: Almost Always Do Better 60
  22. Leadville: A Biography of the A40 64
  23. SCIENCE
  24. The Jewel House: Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution 71
  25. Darwin’s Island: The Galapagos in the Garden of England 75
  26. Darwin’s Sacred Cause: Race Slavery and the Quest for Human Origins 75
  27. The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science 79
  28. You’re Looking Very Well: The Surprising Nature of Getting Old 82
  29. The Science of Love and Betrayal 86
  30. Laughter: A Scientific Investigation 89
  31. Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears 89
  32. Mauve: How One Man Invented a Colour that Changed the World 93
  33. Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood 95
  34. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer 98
  35. Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine, and What Matters in the End 102
  36. MEMOIRS
  37. The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: The Hidden World of a Paris Atelier 109
  38. No Voice from the Hall: Early Memories of a Country House Snooper 113
  39. Gypsies: An English History 116
  40. Fishing in Utopia: Sweden and the Future that Disappeared 119
  41. Family Secrets 122
  42. Swimming with My Father: A Memoir 126
  43. Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense 129
  44. Publisher 132
  45. Untold Stories 135
  46. Grayson Perry: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl 139
  47. Naked at Lunch: The Adventures of a Reluctant Nudist 142
  48. Ahead of the Class: How an Inspiring Headmistress Gave Children Back Their Future 145
  49. Worrying: A Literary and Cultural History 148
  50. Alamein to Zem Zem 151
  51. ANTHROPOLOGY
  52. Feast: Why Humans Share Food 157
  53. The Reinvention of Humanity: A Story of Race, Sex, Gender and the Discovery of Culture 161
  54. Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle 164
  55. Letters to Lily on How the World Works 167
  56. BIOGRAPHY
  57. The Fortunes of Francis Barber: The True Story of a Jamaican Slave Who Became Samuel Johnson’s Heir 173
  58. Sarah: The Life of Sarah Bernhardt 176
  59. Bulwer Lytton: The Rise and Fall of a Victorian Man of Letters 180
  60. Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett 183
  61. Samuel Beckett: The Last Modernist 183
  62. The World of Samuel Beckett, 1906–1946 183
  63. Eric Gill 187
  64. Betjeman: The Bonus of Laughter 190
  65. Eileen: The Making of George Orwell 194
  66. The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul 197
  67. Hergé: The Man Who Created Tintin 200
  68. The Last Englishman: The Double Life of Arthur Ransome 204
  69. Furious Interiors: Wales, R.S. Thomas and God 207
  70. LITERATURE
  71. The Poet’s Tale: Chaucer and the Year that Made the Canterbury Tales 213
  72. Shakespeare’s Language 216
  73. Shakespeare’s Wife 219
  74. The Letters of Charles Dickens, Volume Eight: 1856–1858 223
  75. The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, 2 vols 226
  76. The Short Sharp Life of T.E. Hulme 230
  77. Robert Graves and the White Goddess, 1940–1985 233
  78. Robert Graves: Life on the Edge 233
  79. Robert Graves: Collected Writings on Poetry 233
  80. The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Volume 2: 1956–1963 238
  81. Faulks on Fiction: The Secret Life of the Novel 241
  82. The Good Soldier Švejk 245
  83. BACK TO NATURE
  84. Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature 251
  85. Orchard: A Year in England’s Eden 255
  86. Owl Sense 257
  87. The Spade as Mighty as the Sword: The Story of World War Two’s Dig for Victory Campaign 260
  88. Bertie, May and Mrs Fish: Country Memories of Wartime 264
  89. Running for the Hills: A Family Story 267
  90. MIND BENDERS
  91. A Short Treatise of the Great Virtues: The Uses of Philosophy in Everyday Life 273
  92. The Human Touch: Our Part in the Creation of the Universe 276
  93. The Clock Mirage: Our Myth of Measured Time 280
  94. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 283
  95. VEGETABLE GARDENING
  96. Vegetable Gardening 289
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