Hašek, Jaroslav (1883-1923), Czechoslovak satirical writer, author of The Good Soldier Schweik (Dobrý voják Švejk). Hašek started writing at 17, and the first Schweik story, based on a stoical but none-too-bright soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army, was published in 1912. Hašek was drafted into the army which he had satirized as a civilian, but was captured by the Russians. He joined the group of Czech prisoners which became the Czechoslovak Legion (see North Russia intervention force), but later joined the Bolsheviks. He wrote four of six planned books for the Good Soldier Schweik series. Vladimir Voynovich, a Russian writer, later used the same situation comedy in his account of the exploits of Pte Ivan Chonkin—the Soviet Schweik.
Bibliography
- Hašek, Jaroslav, The Good Soldier Schweik (London, 1930)
— Christopher Bellamy
