Soldier Svejk - Przemysl, Poland - Famous Fictional Figures on Waymarking.com

Soldier Svejk is the central character of the novel The Good Soldier Svejk, written by Jaroslav Hasek. Svejk was later perceived by many Czechs as a personification of Czech soul.

From Wikipedia:

"The novel is set during World War I in Austria-Hungary, a multi-ethnic empire full of long-standing tensions. Fifteen million people died in the War, one million of them Austro-Hungarian soldiers of whom around 140,000 were Czechs. Jaroslav Hašek participated in this conflict and examined it in The Good Soldier Švejk.

Many of the situations and characters seem to have been inspired, at least in part, by Hašek's service in the 91st Infantry Regiment of the Austro-Hungarian Army. The novel also deals with broader anti-war themes: essentially a series of absurdly comic episodes, it explores both the pointlessness and futility of conflict in general and of military discipline, Austrian military discipline, in particular. Many of its characters, especially the Czechs, are participating in a conflict they do not understand on behalf of a country to which they have no loyalty.

The character of Josef Švejk is a development of this theme. Through possibly-feigned idiocy or incompetence he repeatedly manages to frustrate military authority and expose its stupidity in a form of passive resistance: the reader is left unclear, however, as to whether Švejk is genuinely incompetent, or acting quite deliberately with dumb insolence. These absurd events reach a climax when Švejk, wearing a Russian uniform, is mistakenly taken prisoner by his own troops.

In addition to satirising Habsburg authority, Hašek repeatedly sets out corruption and hypocrisy attributed to priests of the Catholic Church."

More information: (visit link)

There are a fez dozen pubs in Czech Republic named after Svejk, and a fair number of movies and TV series were produced based in the book.

Why is Svejk in this Polish town anyway? Because in the novel, he spend a good part of his military service here.

Character Type: Literature Character originator: Jaroslav Hašek Internet Link: [Web Link] Address or Location: Main square of old Przemysl, right in front of the city hall.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.