The Good Soldier Schweik

The Good Soldier Schweik

Czech literature is mainly written in three languages which are the Czech language, Latin and German. The Czech books are written by the Czechs, and are only considered a part of their Czech culture if they are written in one of the three languages. Popular literary themes among the Czechs is the oppression and the long legacy of the history of the Czech Republic. The Good Solider Schweik is, in this sense, an invaluable asset to the Czech literature; this novel is by far the most translated book of their own language.

The Good Soldier Schweik is considered one of the best among the Czech books. It is an incomplete novel written by Jaroslav Hasek. Hasek had devoted his writings for mocking the effects of the World War I and thus he produced this novel, that originally had the name of Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za světové války, which basically means “The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Schweik During World War II”. The novel is a satirical black comedy, which uses the set of World War I that took place in Austria-Hungary to depict the long-standing stresses of the multi-ethnic empire of Hungary. Many of the situations have been extracted from the writer’s own experiences of being in the military himself.

The plot of the story deals with the themes of an anti-war mentality. A long chain of obtrusively comical periods has been incorporated, which explore the absurdity and the pointlessness of the episodes of war and conflict. Jaroslav Hasek has portrayed many of the Czechoslovaks as dull and foolish human beings who are following each other blindly, and who have no idea what really is happening or why they are participating in such violence. 

Now, many of the readers of the Czech literature considered the Czech writing themes as dark, philosophical, mystical, obsessed with sex, and other dark ideas. However, the Czech literature has started to explore more of the popular genres like romance, comedy etc. after the 19^th century. One of the most popular stories of the nation, for example, is Božena Němcova’s collection of short comedy stories that are about a grandmother who comes to live with her grandchildren in a small village.