The Good Soldier Svejk - Jaroslav Hasek

One of the central character of many of the Sanskrit drama is the Vidushak. Usually subordinated and associated with the main hero, the king in most cases, vidushak provided the  social commentary and with his humorous dialogues, creates the much needed criticism of the King's actions which has the direct relevance to the society.  The Vidushak of the drama is the direct replica of the court room Vidushaks, of the Indian Kings. They had the authority and approval of the Noble, to ridicule and criticise the court, including him or judiciary decisions without earning the wrath of the emperor. Often behaved as a clown, with self depreciating humour they were the integral part of the court room, bringing the balance of the rule and the voices of the people.

Jaroslav Hasek's World War I satire to me reminded of this great traditions of Vidushak.  Good Soldier Svejk, stood for what a Vidushak would have done. By making himself as the center of ridicule, by his sense of obedience, his self accepted idiocy, his innocent looking but profound interpretations of the events, his ability to stand up to any negative repercussions in order to prove the triviality of the war and the plight of the people who are recruited as soldiers of the Royal Army as a 'subject' of the His highness who stays in a far off land. Like Svejk, most of the soldiers has no connection with the Lord whom they are fighting for and no enmity with  those they are fighting against.

"And so they've killed our Ferdinand"
"Which Ferdinand, Mrs Muller ?  I know two Ferdinants. One is a messenger at Prusa's the chemist's and once by mistake he drank a bottle of hair oil and the other is Ferdinand  Kokoska, who collect dog manure. Neither of them is any loss".

Originally a dog dealer ( usually stolen dogs), Svejk was recruited into the Austro-Hungarian Army to fight the enemy at the border. Like many Czech peasants he too was assigned to a regiment which was on move to the frontiers. Svejk had previous experience with the army where he served for a short duration, before being discarded for his 'idiocy' and his inability to comprehend. Giving nightmares to his superiors by his idiosyncrasies , yet always being at their side with his clever manipulations to protect them, taking the blame on himself, he spent his time as an orderly whenever he is out of the Gaol. Svejk entertain the readers through his ever ready anecdotes, from his acquaintances and colleagues, filling the pages of this giant book. These anecdotes, seldom has any connection with the main topic in discussion, frustrates his superiors. The exploits continue from one garrison to the next, from one gaol to the other, from one bogie of the train to the next. In the end, he gets arrested as a Russian spy, while attempting to wear the uniform of a Russian Soldier in the frontier line. Interestingly, for every trouble he get himself to , he comes up with his rational which is often difficult to argue against.   

Jaroslav Hasek, himself was a soldier during the WW I. The characterisation of Svejk is developed from his own personal experience of the service in the 91st Infantry Regiment of the Austro-Hungarian Army.. These experiences were published in the journals at various times, and have then been developed into a mega book. However, he did not live to complete the book as it ends abruptly before the real action or war begin. But, what he was expressing to convey is very clear in the pages that are left for us to savour. Hasek's life itself has been of a nomad and anarchic , which reflects in the theme and in Svejk.

"Great times call for great men", says Hasek in his preface. "I am very fond of good soldier Svejk and in relating his adventure during World War and I am convinced that this modest, anonymous hero will win sympathy of all of you"...."and that is enough".

The writing is hilarious and extremely funny and thus its a page turner, despite the mammoth size of the book. The illustrations of Josef Lada ( the original publication was with the illustrations of Lada) adds flavor to the character, and I am likely to remember Svejk as perceived and drawn by Lada. Probably one of the best anti-war novels ever written, inspiring a whole lot of writers ( Joseph Keller of Catch-22 said once that he could not have written Catch-22 if not for this epic novel). Its pretty obvious that this is an untranslatable book, with its local idioms and the use of large mix of languages. The translations of Cecil Parrot, was a great effort to bring out these nuances of the languages.  Brilliant book, and a character permanently etched in my memory.

"Heroes don't exist, only cattle for the slaughter and the butchers in the general staffs. But in the end every body will mutiny and there will be a fine shambles. Long live the army! Goodnight!”

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The Good Soldier Svejk ( 1923 )

Jaroslav Hasek   ( translated from Czech by Cecil Parrott  in 1973)

Penguin Books

752 Pages
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Wiki, Telegraph

Too Loud a Solitude - Bohumil Hrabal

'For thirty-five years now I’ve been in wastepaper, and it’s my love story'

For 35 years Hantá has been working in a press, compacting old and discarded books and papers into pulp. His acquaintance with books and words are so high that he end up 'rescuing' books from the jaws of the massive press, by sneaking them out. These books occupy the majority of his single room attic, threatening to topple over and crush him. He scared about the possibility of the only human being crushed under the debris of books. To avoid the monotonous nature of his work and his loneliness, he has turned alcoholic ( “drunk so much beer over the past thirty-five years that it could fill an Olympic pool, an entire fish hatchery”). He has no family , relatives or friends and his life is spent between press and his book, barring an occasional visit to the pub. His mother died long ago, and an uncle whom he frequent ( who after retirement as a Railway Signal man, erected a signal post in his courtyard with the help of his friends) also died some time ago. Now that his tenure at the press is coming to an end, 5 more years to go, he is also worried about his future and contemplating a similar action, of buying a second hand press and install in his attic.

Despite his idiotic outlook and alcoholic spurts , he is a learnt man. He can quote from Kant, Derrida and other philosophers at will, and have spent a long time reading the books he managed to take out.

"Because when I read, I don't really read; I pop a beautiful sentence into my mouth and suck it like a fruit drop, or I sip it like a liqueur until the thought dissolves in me like alcohol..."

Despite his physical out look of a rag, dirty , unwashed and illiterate drunkard, he has profound wisdom of words from his books. He often wonders "which of his thoughts come from me and which one from the books". His thoughts, comes outs as first person narrative, is often riddled with his reminiscence of his few unsuccessful relationships one Manca, who splash 'shit' over the other dancers at a party and a gypsy girl much later.

The war is over and the world around him is changing. The country is now under the autocratic rule. The technology is advanced and there are newer press is installed in other parts of the town, which calls for lesser number of manpower and faster and more effective. He is not able to come to terms with these changes and his visit to one of the new press to understand the system, only managed to terrify him and increase his worries of his future. The inevitable had to come, as his boss installs new machines and labours skilled enough to handle the newer methods and machines, asking him to leave the job. In the last chapter, Hantá dreams about the collapse of the civilization and the system under the new press, as the building, the roads, the populace and town crumbles under the heavy arms of the giant press, taking him along.

To Hanta, his existence is revolved around the press and the books. Every efforts from his side to go along with the changing world had been futile. As he noted,

"everything I see in this world, it all moves backward and forward at the same time, like a blacksmith’s bellows, like everything in my press, turning into its opposite at the command of red and green buttons, and that’s what makes the world go round.”

The book, originally written in 1976, but was published only by 1989. It might be against the totalitarian regime of the Republic, even though there are no direct references. Hanta's life and fate is that of every human being. The isolation in society, the solitude one feel among chaos and the maddening world, the comfort under your own settings and inability to get out of the zone are something universal and eternal. Hanta's own reflections of his past is limited to few failed attempts to get a companion in life. As he is crumbling, the entire universe of his, is crumbling along with him.

You don't need to write mammoth books to create an impact. What a 1000+ pages book could not do, was managed by sub 100 pages, if they are conceived and handled by masters. Having read "Closely Observed Trains" a few months ago, I was hugely influenced by Bohumil Hrabal and the quest for his other works thus began. Many of his admirers recommended 'Too Loud a Solitude" and here it is. My respect and admiration for this writer only increased post these two books.

Its pure magic, that is in these pages. Hrabal's language, his voice , his style is brilliant. The book is often funny and the character is idiotic. However, the omnipresent irony, the pathos is evident as you read the pages through, coming to a most fitting end to the narrative. As is with the previous book I read, this too demand a few re-reading. I am overwhelmed.

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Too Loud a Solitude ( 1977)

Bohumil Hrabal ( translated from Czech by Michael Henry Heim 1990)

Abacus

98 Pages
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Wiki entry, The Asylum

Closely Observed Trains - Bohumil Hrabal

It is amazing how such a short book can create such a profound impact on the readers. In mere 90 pages, Czech writer Bohumil Hrbal create a magic that refuses to leave me even after 10 days. I would have read this book 4-5 times, in complete or in parts, so much for its impact on me. I realise, such was the general opinion of the readers of Hrbal. I havent seen the movie, but its visual adaptation, came out an year after the books release, had caused a similar reaction to the movie lovers.

Year is 1945 and German's are loosing grip on the Word War II. The allied forces are winning, and the Soviets are advancing in the Eastern front.

"By this year, the year forty-five, the Germans had already lost command of the air space over our little town. Over the whole region, in fact , and for that matter, the whole country"

The continued bombardment and other disruption causing delay in the functions of the rail system ;"Morning trains ran at noon, the noon trains in the evening". One for the German flight was shot down over the town and soon its parts metamorphosed into "little roofs for rabbit hutches and hen houses, leg guard for motor-bikes and other useful things by the town people. 20 year old Milos Hrma, is an apprentice in the towns railway station, strategic and important for its position. They are expected to make sure that the trains carrying the returning German Soldiers, devastated from the Eastern front, have a smooth transit. Milos Hrma, lives in his on fantasy world , fighting his own battle. We understand, that he just returned from hospital from a slit wrist, attempting to commit suicide, after a disastrous first sexual experience. He is fighting the battle of his own impotency , while living the tale of his own supervisor's adventurous life in the station with the "Telegraph operator", where she was found with the Station stamp all over her backside on the station masters couch. 

German trains are important and had to be closely watched for their safe and uninterrupted passage. A failure to which might get the attention of Gestapo. Working on the monotonous task of clearing the train signals, the book now focuses on Milos Hrma and his growing up to manhood. It is important for him to erase his past and gain confidence on himself. The process is not only with the girl , but to the society that ridiculed him. What we see in a superbly built climax is just that, where he confront the train load of Nazi munitions in a singly executed rebelleous act of sabotage.

Its a simple story, told in an impeccable style. Eventhough the reading is deceptively straight and funny, its rich and dense beneath these words. Milos Hrma's fight is not only his but of Czeckoslovakia, against the Germans. The act on a 'sense of purpose' is the country's attempt to shake its impotency. The small railway station is the microcosm of the people with "collaborators, resistants, the rest who get laid. While observing the returning trains, for Milos Hrma, he himself is being watched.

Despite its size, it progresses beautifully. With the initial description of the war front, with the imminent defeat of Germans, Hrbal, tells us the family background of Hrma, before taking us to the railway station of action. Hrma's story of failure and his return to the work is mentioned in beautifully mixed flashback. Language is simple and poetic. However, what makes this book interesting is the possibilities of reading within the lines. Outstanding work of fiction.

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Closely Observed Trains ( 1965 )

Bohumil Hrabal ( translated from Czech by Edith Pargeter ( orig. English Translation in 1968)

Abacus
91 Pages
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Other reviews : Asylum , Pechorin's journal, About.com Classic Literature

Two Murders in my Double Life - Josef Škvorecký

Two stories, one in the Edenvale College , and one in his native Czech almost at the same time revolves around a murder in Canada and a character assassination ( ? ) in the his homeland, told in a rather interwoven narrative by a professor, emigre from Czech living in Canada with his wife.

The narrator, like the author, lives a double life. One his present life in Canada , and the other his past life in his home country. As we realise, these two lives overlap and there is no escape from his past life and events.

The story starts with a murder of Raymod Hammet, husband of an Edenvale professor. The college with its eccentric professors and students, the romantic entanglements, and professional rivalries adds the the conspiracy theory in the mind of the professor. The police Sergeant Dorothy Sayers, who is investigating this case ( and also a student of the narrator) comes with her multiple suspects and theories. There are no proofs against anyone, only alibis. As the professors goes through the various incidents ( and some keen observations thanks to his wife) and stories and trying to connect them to the common thread, the picture is getting clearer to him on the murder. Professor, as a writer of crime fiction, gets into the act of finding out the motives of the murderer and the motives of the possible witnesses with his clever inquisitive tactics, manages ( well, almost) to untangle the mystery by himself, while fighting another battle at his own personal life.

His wife ( Sidonia) , who is also an emigre like him (both of them deserted Czech , to settle in Canada) runs a publishing house, releasing writings of authors of Czech exile. The end of communist regime and the end of StG ( the secret police) rule , things are expected to get better for those in exile. More so for Sidonia, with the eminent personalities including the President of the State, are among her close friends and associates. However, one document published in 'kill communism' an exile magazine on the involvement of Sidonia, in reporting one of her co-worker to StG, ( a la Milan Kundera , as you see in these recent revelations) has changed their lives forever . Sidonia's name also appeared in "the list" as one of the informers of StG during her past life at Czech. Sidonia, and to a lesser extend the professor, gets into the depression, discontinuing her writing , spending her days in the company of alcohol. It hasn't been easy for the professor as well. Their efforts of coming clean in the malice, prove fatal as more dirt is surfaced. His attempt to meet the creators of the report and confronting them with dire consequences too did not help to reduce the damage that has already been done. The officials , represented by a blond lawyer is also been very non-committal as she states ,
"An entry in the register of files, or if you wish, on the List , in no way proves that the registered person behaved as an agent and performed an agent's duties. It proves only one single thing; that he or she has entered into the register of files".

Though they have managed to come clean out of this trouble by a court ruling, it was already too late and the physical health and mental health of Sidonia was already on a decline.

Two murders in my Double life is thus a story of past & present, of Czech and Edenvale, of personal and professional life , of crime and alibi and of life and death. It is a crime fiction, a memoir, a campus story all in one.

This is the first novel written by Skvorecky in English and the narrator and his wife resembles to himself and his wife in character. I have read his one of his earlier novel "Republic of Whores" years ago, and recollect, not having a great opinion about it. This book has been written in a humorous, very informal style, intermixing the events beautifully, and with an easy and absorbing narration.

"for all good writers know that the first idea that occurs must be rejected. Such unexamined impulses must be destroyed by the power of thought."

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Two Murders in my Double Life

Josef Škvorecký
178 Pages
Rs 462
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More read : NY Times, Complete Review , Interview with the author

Truck Stop Rainbows - Iva Pekarkova

Novels and literature from erstwhile communist countries have always been popular in the west and when I bought this book, I considered it as another one in that category. however, this book has taken me by surprise. Instead of the expected banter of the regime and their struggle to escape the iron fists and hard rules, this gives more human angle to the same, alienations of individuals within the society and within the family.

Fialka , is a young rebelleous woman of Prague , 25yrs , still has a university student pass where she is enrolled for psychology, likes to overcome the monotonous urban communist life by doing nature photography for the local magazine. Her friend Patrick, who is crippled and bound to the living room and clutches was into photography as a hobby and a plumber as a profession.

She escape from Prague on every possible opportunity , on hitchhiking trips to the interiors to photograph wild flowers and engages in many one-night affairs with the czech truck drivers. After Patrick is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and the waiting time for wheel chair is 6-7 years according to the authorities, she takes up the task of getting some hard currency to buy him a wheel chair on her own. She starts picking up the western truck drivers en-route to the eastern exotic destinations , selling herself for money and the adventure. She falls in love with a Swedish truck driver, for whom Prague become a regular stopover on her onward and return journey. She rejects the offer by her lover to move in with him to Sweden , but not before securing the precious wheel chair for Patrick.

While that is the plot of the novel, Pekarkova examines the state of the people through the complex portrayal of her narrator - young , rebellious, adventurous and angry. A fresh look at the Czech society, under the communist regime, under decay and soviet influence. Her parents and only sibling are killed in an accident which the authorities have closed as a drunken driving case. During one of her later visit to the accident sites ( while hitchhiking) she gets to know the truth from a local shop keeper as a Russian military truck is involved in the case. Using her sexuality as the only tool to fight against the system, Fialka tries to come out of the shackles. In the process, she goes through major changes both physically ( in terms of her dressing , appearance and makeup) and mentally ( she is surprised at her ease to get adjusted to her new way of living) , before a she realises the effects on her. Though immune to all that is happening around him, Patrick too gets attracted by the eastern philosophy and re-incarnation before deciding to call it quits.

All of us are in search of the rainbows in our life. In this fascinating novel by the czech author Iva Pakarkova, it has used as a metaphor of something not within reach. A very feminine novel, beautifully written and thought provoking.

Truck Stop Rainbows
Iva Pekarkova Translated by David Powelstock
266 Pages
Vintage Books

The Curtain - Milan Kundera

By writing the story of Don Quixote, Cervantes tore open the curtain that represented the perceived world and revealed the world untold to the people says Milan Kundera in his new book called The Curtain. Cervantes' Don Quixote, and Francois Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel, considered as the starting of this new form of literature and he says the novel has to reveal ( remove the curtain ) some previously unrecognised human life.

This book I would consider a sequel to his earlier book called "The Art of Novel". He takes of from where he left us in the art of novel. Kundera discusses history , continuity of the art form, the progress and history of this art form. As in the case of the art of novel he rely on the older generation of European novelists from Cervantes , Kafka , Tolstoy , Musil etc etc for his explanations.

Novel defined by one of its early protagonist ( Fielding) is "a quick and sagacious penetration into the true essence of all the objects of our contemplation". "A novelist is born out of the ruins of his lyrical world" . "The writer's work isonly a kind of optical instrument he provides the reader so he can discern what he might never have seen in himself without this book. The reader's recognition in himself of what the book says is the proof of the book's truth", as stated by Marcel Proust defines the meaning of the very art of novel.

Art has a continuity. To understand and relish an artform you will also need to understand its transformation and continuity. As Kundera put it, Every modern writers have taken inspiration from their earlier generation of writers. James Joyce from Flaubert , Feilding from Cervantes , Stendhal from Fielding, Marquez from Kafka. A novel is never confines within the state or countries boundary and it has a wider reach among all the people of the world. National Literature has no meaning these days, we are in the era of World Literature.

Milan Kundera is one of the few authors, I would not miss any books , whether it is his fiction or his non-fiction writings. And I prefer his non-fiction these days as his recent fictions books , ignorance or slowness did not impress me much. I have been seeing the arrival of this book from Amazon for a while and it is not available in India yet. Hence I had to shell out some extra money to buy this on my travel.

I found this book very interesting and easy reading. It was a little hard to understand when I was reading the "art of novel" and comparing to the earlier experience I found this reading much easier. Of cource, Ar of the novel was read about 12 years back and I have definitely read much more and have aged ( may be a little wiser). If you are a seriour reader of literature ( especially world literature) , this book is a must read and will enhance your own understanding of this form of art.

Before I end, I found this statement made by one of his friend to him after the fall of the communist regime in Czeckoslovakia and they have embarked the capitalist economy. It summarises the fate of every developing nations "Commercial stupidity has replaced the ideological stupidity".

If you like a more detailed review ( which I find the best ) click here