Another burning question from my cavernous mind......

One of the greatest books ever written, in my opinion, was the bitingly sarcastic anti-war novel "The Good Soldier Svejk" by Jaroslav Hasek. Hasek died in 1923, however, before fully completing the hilarious tale of Svejk, the only loyal Czech in Emperor Franz Josef's army during World War I. Svejk is supposedly somewhat mentally deficient, although it is argued that it was all an act in order for him to pull all the little stunts he did.

Some time back some other historians mentioned that there was a film version of the book made in Europe. I have been unable to track it down here. Does anyone know if this is true? Does it exist. I can't afford to buy anything now. It's really for my own knowledge.

Thanks,
Mere

Mere

The only reference I can find to a movie version is this one from the Internet movie database ..

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0168671/

A 1926 silent production!! I can't believe there's been nothing since then ..

Cerys xx

Thanks, Cerys. For some reason I never thought of looking there. I originally was going to college to study film and wound up as a historian instead. Maybe I can do both and make a new version! Yeah, right. That'll be a bit hit.

Sammy, will we be watching it from the bathtub?

If any of you can ever read "Svejk" I highly recommend it. My copy, which is the most complete version available, is 752 pages. It's truly a great novel and you'll laugh a lot.

Here he is!



I don't think there'll be much "Dirty dancing" tonight he looks a little worse for wear! Boys! tsk, can't take their drink.

Cerys xx

Exactly! And, great picture of him.

The "Anglican" spelling of his name is, of course, Josef. He's one of the funniest characters you'll ever encounter.

Shan, I really doubt I'll ever get to Poland and to that restaurant, but thanks for the tip.

Read this book!

For my doctorate I had to have two major and two minor fields. My major fields are U.S. labor and legal/constitutional history. For my minor fields I took Habsburg Austria (c. 1790-1918) and, for my outside history field, U.S. Radical Literature. I read "Svejk" as part of my Habsburg studies.

I really wish I could direct a complete film version of "Svejk," although I fear some of the humor in it may seem dated by today's standards. But I wouldn't want to stray from the flavor of the original book, so for now, just read the book!