Sto let se Švejkem

Abstract

The text discusses the world of Hašek’s Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka (The Good Soldier Švejk) and demonstrates how, in the novel, the loss of the social cohesion of the individual cultural spheres (science, religion, state), patriotism, and public forms of recognition are pictured. It argues that in the Hašek’s depiction the loss of the public role of these spheres is something that can only be denied at the cost of collaborating with the stupidity and cruelty that rules the world. It reflects on the clash and penetration of the grotesque and the ridiculous in the novel. Thematically, however, the text is oriented towards the distance that Czech public has maintained already for a century to the character of Švejk, repeatedly in this regard touching on two major interpretations of the novel by Karel Kosík and Václav Černý.

Keywords

• the good soldier švejk
• jaroslav hašek
• recognition and dignity
• the situation of a minor nation and a minor literature
• absurdity