The Good Soldier Å*vejk

[Lobotomy]

I have to read this novel for class this year. I did some research and apparently the author was at one point an anarchist and later a Bolshevik. Are there leftist undertones in this book? I've only read a few pages and so far it seems pretty amusing.

[PhoenixAsh]

Yes. There are several undertones in it:

- anti war
- anti military
- anti authoritarian / bureaucracy
- anti militarism

But going into much detail would ruin the great story. So try to find the social implications.

Some tried to ban the book when it was first published. So that gives you some idea how authorities thought about it.

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

an adaptation by Bertolt Brecht (who was certainly a commie and a huge admirer of the book): it's called Schweik in the Second World War, and has one of Brecht/Eisler's most beautiful songs:
rE-wNvvDQIo

[khad]

It's one of the few books that made me laugh out loud. I love the part when he switched the code books. The Austro-Hungarian army was using Volume 2 of a novel for their code references, but Svejk ordered volume 1s because he figured it'd be better to start from the beginning.

[OhYesIdid]

Svejk is one of my all-time favorite books, man. Congratulations to everyone who's read it.

[Red Commissar]

Yeah, I liked it too. One of the reasons for my user name is from a short story involving the same character.