On the 3rd of January 1923, in the bedroom of a modest house at 19 U. Pozavska, in the village of Lipnice nad Sázavou, Jaroslav Hašek lay in bed dictating to his daughter Jarmila page after page of his novel "The Fate of the Good Soldier Švejk During the World War". He was too weak to get out of bed and couldn't even hold a pen. He died that night, from a sudden heart attack at the age of 39, leaving unfinished the greatest Czech novel ever written. Among his papers was a half-finished Proust questionnaire.
Q: Who, living or dead, would you like to have dinner with?
A: Karl Marx and Oscar Wilde
Q: Favorite animal
A: Dog
Q: Favorite drink
A: Beer with a Becherovka chaser
Q: Favorite piece of music
A: Serenade for tenor, harp and strings by Jiří Kaposzta
 |
| Hašek as Soviet Army Commissar, 1920 |
Hašek did not take life seriously: he was a communist and then an anticommunist, an anarchist, an iconoclast, a bigamist, totally irresponsible and unreliable, a lovable drunkard bohemian (both literally and figuratively). Unquestionably, his literary talent was staggering, a fascinating storyteller with a special, comical style, hiding caustic satire and social criticism, he produced one of those rare books set in a well defined place and time, that expresses thoughts and ideas valid any place and any time. Rev. Augustin Kleinschrodt, on the plains of Trient in 1916, would be perfectly at home on the lawn of the White House in 2026.
After mourning and grieving her father, Jarmila married Miroslav Schikedantz and emigrated to Paraguay, where they ran the "U Kalicha" Czech Social Club complete with the Franz-Joseph I portrait famously and disgracefully soiled by flies (in the book described as a treasonous act of disloyalty leading to the barman's arrest). They served cheese grioche (mild or spicy).
nice'un bruh!
ReplyDelete