↳ LAUGH & RESIST
The Good Soldier Švejk
by Jaroslav Hašek
He follows every order perfectly. The empire falls apart.
For you if
you want to understand how doing exactly what you're told can be the most subversive act available — from the man who perfected it
⚡ Choose Your Route ⚡
Not sold directly on this site. Support indie bookstores with a new copy, or go sustainable with a used one.
Supports independent bookstores
— or —
Secondhand & sustainable
$22 MSRP
· Paperback
Reference price shown. Other editions may be available.
Reference price shown. Other editions may be available.
Švejk is a Czech dog trader conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian army during WWI who navigates the entire military bureaucracy through cheerful compliance and spectacular incompetence that may or may not be deliberate. He does exactly what he's told. He follows every order to its logical conclusion. The results are catastrophic for the Austro-Hungarian war effort and entirely innocent on Švejk's part — or so he maintains. Hašek was a Czech anarchist who wrote this while dying of alcoholism, left it unfinished at his death in 1923, and produced the most important Czech novel ever written. The most sophisticated expression in literature of resistance through strategic stupidity — the appearance of compliance as the most effective form of subversion. The essential companion to Revolution for the Hell of It: Hoffman disrupts with joy, Švejk disrupts with obedience.
WHERE THIS BOOK LIVES
- Setting
- Czech Republic • Eastern Europe
- Voice
- Written by a Czech author
- Themes
- After EmpireSatire & AbsurdismLaughing at Empire
