A few Remarks on the Representation of Violence in Jaroslav Hašek’s Novel The good soldier Švejk

Abstract

The Good Soldier Švejk (1921-1923) is regarded as a humorous and amusing novel. This is certainly true, but it can be interesting to identify – and that is the aim of the present paper – the stylistic devices employed to narrate the massacres of the First World War while converting intolerable horror and violence into an amusing story, continuously provoking laughter, and thus allowing for relaxation. In his novel, Jaroslav Hašek recounts the “great times” of the first decades of the 20th century pointing to its political, bureaucratic, legal, clergy, and war violence.