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Well, I haven't read this edition of the book yet, but I absolutely loved the one translated into Russian which I have read and re-read about ten times, first time when I was maybe 13. The funniest book ever, although this humor is the kind of humor that actually laughs where you could also cry and yell on top of your lungs at all the injustice in the world. I remember having laughed every maybe second paragraph of the book until my stomach hurt. Unbelievably, absurdly funny, but never gets tiring, the humor is never induced, trite, or repetitive. Hacek had a choice to either write a very tragic work about all the terrible things the World War One had brought into the lives of millions of people, or to look at it with humor and make light of it. Yet, it never feels like the writer is mocking reality, it's one of those rare instances when you have a very tragic subject (can hardly think of anything more tragic then those two wars of the 20th century), but making light of it really works, and makes you feel more optimistic about life and world.
And this. More Rabelais than Cervantes. Ha.ha,ha,ha (gasp).especially if you have ever been in the military. The author is a vagabond turned communist with a sense of humor but really an anarchist who formed "The Party of Moderate and Peaceful Progress Within the Limits of the Law" and then vilefied the Hapsburgs throughout Prague before The Great War. Goodbye to All That. All Quiet on the Western Front. His life would have interested Jack Kerouac. The end causes the same torment as Dead Souls.
One of them loses a lot of money. His attitude is basic philosophical wisdom: don't fight what is stronger than you, try to blend in and, above all, do not try to be a hero.
He deserves to be mentioned next to Don Qixote and Robinson Crusoe. Svejk is one of the greatest creations of world literature of all times.
He is a Czech during the K&K Monarchy of Austria & Hungary, and when the monarch starts WW1 after the shots in Sarajewo, Svejk is drafted and sent to the front. Maybe a comparison to Grimmelshausen's Simplizius comes closer to a characterization of the 'good soldier'.This edition is the most recent and seemingly acceptable version in the English language (though one reviewer complains about the small print), but it has attracted only 12 reviews.
What a shame.Sveijk is the prototypical small man called to the front by superior and ununderstandable forces. Simplicity, particilularly the mental kind, is wisdom and a survival asset.On the day before a battle, Svejk plays cards with friends.
Svejk consoles him: don't be sad, if you are lucky, you die tomorrow, then you don't have to pay your debts.
translated in footnotes. This is a difficult review because I love the stories and the translation is good overall, However: It seems like the Czech oaths and swears have been bawdlerized, although in the chapter in with Hungarians, the author has relented. On the other hand, Jalocová is repeatedly noted as juniper berry schnapps although context makes it obvious its a liquor. There's a lot of old informal British terms used in dialogue, and I needed to look these up- some of these words might as well have remained in Czech. The text itself has German and Hungarian phrases which are usually (but not always). Basically, the translation needs more editing. I like Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za svtové války enough that I might get another translation.
I will have to seek another edition of this classic, which comes highly recommended by friends. I have okay eyesight, too. The print in this edition is so tiny (6 pt.). that I couldn't imagine making it through hundreds of pages. I am sorry to register this report as the book is nicely bound and set in Bembo, very handsome but way too small. I thought potential buyers should know if print size is important to them.
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