Česká verze/Czech version

An International Conference
Hašek and Švejk - Humor of the Millennium

Press Release

At a gathering on the eve of the conference the Czech Senate Speaker Petr Pithart emphasized the significance of Hasek's work in connection with the anticipated entry of the Czech Republic into the European Union.

Among the participants of the conference were also translators and writers from several countries: Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Mongolia, Finland, Spain, Germany and the United States.

Literary historian Radko Pytlik in the opening presentation highlighted Hasek's concept of the irony of history which is the key to realizing  the significance of Švejk whose humor is often aimed even at the current state of the world. The Patriarch of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church, Jan Schwarz, reminded us that Hasek's satire is not an attack on faith in God, but merely a critique of the abuses and shortcomings accumulated within the Church over a millennium. Literary scholar Milan Jankovič analyzed some epic advances of Hasek's Švejk and demonstrated the meaningfulness of his laughter's content. Poet and humorist Eugen Brikcius pointed out in a clever way various types of mystification as avenues to uncovering the truth. Jiří Žáček confirmed the humourous nature of the conference by reading several satirical poems from his new book.

A remarkable feature was the attendance of Alois Vocásek, born in 1896. This, perhaps last eyewitness of the historical WWI battle near Zborov met Jaroslav Hasek when they were both members of the Czecho-Slovak Legions there.

In the afternoon the conference participants visited the Jaroslav Hasek Memorial in Lipnice and then remembered the 120th anniversary of the author's birthday by his grave side at the Lipnice Old Cemetery.

Photo © Lubos Göbl      

Petr Pithart, the Speaker of the Czech Senate (right) and translator Z. K. Sadlon.

Josef Kobra-Kučera, the co-chairman of the current incarnation of the political parody party founded by Hasek, The Party of Mild Progress Within the Limits of the Law recalled the political cartoon tradition which has a number of its top-level practitioners in Bohemia who have won praise and prizes at international festivals, but still don't have a facility to host political cartoon and caricature exhibitions. A humorously styled fake letter from Josef Švejk was read by Alexandr Drbal who was born in Lviv in the Ukraine. To cap the first day of the conference, actor Ivo Niederle read the newly discovered story written by Jaroslav Hasek under the title The Pork Story.

The conference continued Wednesday, April 30 with discussions of translations of Hasek's work into other languages. (So far it's been translated into 58 languages.)

Professor Oleg Malevich from St. Petersburg in Russia pointed out the connection between Jaroslav Hasek and Karel Čapek, the author of R.U.R. and other novels. It was the very work of Jaroslav Hasek which caused Malevich to become a Czechophile, a student of all things Czech. Editor Radmila Hrdinová analyzed the main features of the fifty theatrical versions of Švejk staged in Czech theaters since 1945 so far. She made an interesting point that while in Germany a Švejk musical has been created this particular art form has not yet inspired Czech artists to write one. Monika Zgustová pointed out the connection between Hasek's writing and the work of Bohumil Hrabal, his so-called "pábení" which became the starting point for her translation of the Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk into Catalan. The Finish translator Eero Balk spoke of the fact that the translations of Hasek's Švejk opened the gates for Czech literature in Finland. Zenny Sadlon in a remarkably lively presentation expressed the difficulties of creating a new English translation of Švejk differing from the previous translation by Cecil Parrott. Lászlo Kovácz, a translator from Budapest reminded the audience of the continuing lively reception of Hasek's work in Hungary.

The next section was devoted to the individual aspects of Hasek's life and work. Frantisek Cinger spoke of Hasek's activity within the Czecho-Slovak Legions and the revolutionary Russia, which is still a hotly debated issue on the way to recognizing Hasek's work at present time. Film director Antonín Kachlík pointed out the historical background of Hasek's stay in Russia and the problems associated with that. The former Lipnice teacher Frantisek Drasner in an interesting way pointed out the details of Hasek's stay in Lipnice and reminded the audience of the pub phenomenon and the bohemian gatherings in Hasek's work.

The program included musical performances by Milan Karpísek's Švejk Band from Pilsen accompanied by Přemysl Kubista as Svejk. Another refreshing feature was the screening of Karel Lamač 1926 film about Svejk with Karel Noll in the title role.

In closing, the participants expressed their thanks to all who were responsible for the smooth course of the conference by securing all the material provisions, i.e. above all the Czech Crown Inn and Pension proprietors, Richard and Zdena Hasek, as well as their staff.

Česká verze/Czech version

English version/Anglická verze

Mezinárodní konference
Hašek a Švejk - humor tisíciletí

Tisková zpráva

V předvečer konference vystoupil předseda Senátu Parlamentu ČR Petr Pithart , který zdůraznil mezinárodní význam Haškova díla v souvislosti s předpokládaným vstupem České republiky do Evropské unie.

Mezi účastníky konference byli i překladatelé a publicisté z různých zemí: z Polska, Ruska, Ukrajiny, Mongolska, Finska, Španělska,  Německa a ze Spojených států amerických.

V úvodním referátu zdůraznil literární historik  PhDr. Radko Pytlík pojem Haškovy ironie dějin, která je klíčem k rozeznání významu Švejka, jehož humor často míří i na současnou situaci světa. Patriarcha Církve čs. husitské  ThDr. Jan Schwarz připomněl, že Haškova satira není útokem proti víře v Boha, ale pouze kritikou církevních nešvarů a nedostatků, jež se nashromáždily během tisíciletí. Literární vědec  PhDr. Milan Jankovič rozebral některé epické postupy Haškova Švejka a ukázal obsažnost jeho smíchu. Básník a humorista  Eugen Brikcius poukázal vtipným způsobem na různé druhy mystifikace jako cesty k odhalení pravdy. Humorný ráz konference dotvrdil svým vystoupením  Jiří Žáček , který přednesl několik satirických básní ze své nové knihy.

Pozoruhodným doplňkem byla účast  Aloise Vocáska (1896). Tento snad poslední pamětník památné  bitvy u Zborova se  v čs. legiích v Rusku setkal s Jaroslavem Haškem.

Odpoledne si účastníci konference prohlédli  Památník Jaroslava Haška v Lipnici a vzpomenuli 120. výročí narození spisovatele u jeho hrobu na lipnickém hřbitově.

Photo © Luboš Göbl      

Petr Pithart, předseda českého Senátu (vpravo) a překladatel Z. K. Sadlon.

Spolupředseda současné parodické Strany mírného pokroku v mezích zákona  Josef Kobra-Kučera připomněl tradici kresleného humoru, která má v Čechách řadu špičkových autorů, uznání a cen z mezinárodních festivalů, ale nemá dosud stánek kresleného humoru a karikatury. Humorně laděný dopis pana Josefa Švejka přednesl ing. Alexandr Drbal, narozený ve Lvově. Na závěr prvního dne konference přečetl herec Ivo Niederle nově objevenou povídku Jaroslava Haška s názvem Vepřová historie.

Konference pokračovala ve středu 30. dubna jednáním o překladech díla J. Haška do cizích jazyků (zatím je přeloženo do 58 různých jazyků).

Prof. Oleg Malevič z Petrohradu upozornil na spojení mezi Jaroslavem Haškem a Karlem Čapkem. Právě dílo J. Haška způsobilo, že se on sám stal bohemistou. Redaktorka PhDr.  Radmila Hrdinová rozebrala hlavní rysy dosud 50 divadelních inscenací Švejka na českých scénách od roku 1945. Je zajímavé, že zatímco v Německu vznikla  muzikálová podoba Švejka , české tvůrce tato forma dosud nezaujala. Další diskusní blok se týkal překladu Švejka do cizích jazyků.  Monika Zgustová , laureátka Ceny města Barcelony a Národní ceny Katalánska, upozornila na souvislost Haškovy prózy s Bohumilem Hrabalem, s jeho tzv. pábením, jež se stalo východiskem i pro její překlad Osudů dobrého vojáka Švejka do katalánštiny. Překladatel  Eero Balk z Finska mluvil o tom, že překlady Haškova Švejka otevřely brány pro českou literární klasiku ve Finsku.  Zenny Sadlon v pozoruhodně živém příspěvku vyjádřil  obtíže při vytváření nového překladu Švejka do angličtiny , odlišného od dosavadního překladu  Cecila Parrota. Živý ohlas Haškova díla v Maďarsku připomněl překladatel Lászlo Kovácz z Budapešti.

Další oddíl byl věnován jednotlivým historickým aspektům Haškova života a jeho tvorby. PhDr. František Cinger promluvil o Haškově činnosti v legiích a v revolučním Rusku, jež je dosud ožehavou otázkou pro uznání Haškova díla v současnosti. Režisér Antonín Kachlík upozornil na historické pozadí Haškova pobytu v Rusku a na problémy s tím spojené. Bývalý učitel v Lipnici František Drašner zajímavým způsobem poukázal na detaily Haškova pobytu v městečku Lipnice a připomněl fenomén hospod a bohémské společnosti v Haškově tvorbě.

Součástí kulturního programu bylo vystoupení hudebního souboru  Milana Karpíška z Plzně s  Přemyslem Kubištou v roli Švejka. Dalším zpestřením bylo promítnutí Lamačova filmu o Švejkovi s Karlem Nollem v titulní roli (1926)..

Závěrem vyjádřila konference dík všem, kteří zajišťovali její hladký průběh po stránce materiální, tj. především majitelům hostince a penzionu U České koruny Richardovi a Zdeně Haškovým, jakož i jejich spolupracovníkům.

English version/Anglická verze

The Czech Crown Inn saw the arrival of members and guests of the Society for Rejuvenating Immortality of Jaroslav Hasek. The participants - including Czech Interior Minister Frantisek Bublan (third from the left) - of the first public gathering in history organized for the stated purpose were welcomed by the writer's grandson, Richard Hasek (standing). He said that not only is the Inn a hallowed place where his grandfather Jaroslav Hasek created the largest portion of The Fateful Adventures of The Good Soldier Svejk, but the town of Lipnice itself is gradually being enriched by artifacts reminiscent of some of the novel's characters: e.g. chef Jurajda's Hors D'oeuvre, standing in the town square, but also the so-called Bretschneider's Ear, another piece of work by Radomír Dvořák and his pupils from the stone-masonry apprenticeship school, is - figuratively speaking - an important means of listening to the 58 languages into which Švejk has been translated. After all, the goal of the workshop was a discussion of how to most effectively help to have the author of Švejk be accepted in his homeland as much as he is accepted in other countries with which we have almost nothing in common. "If we want to judge Hasek without prejudice, we have to do it above all through the significance of his work", said the Chairman of the Society for Rejuvenating Immortality of Jaroslav Hasek, a well-known film director Antonín Kachlík.

The overarching theme of the proceedings were preparations for “Hasek-kind“ of year 2008 which will mark the important 125th anniversary of the birthday and 85 years since the passing of Jaroslav Hasek. That is why the groundwork for an international symposium dedicated to the historical and cultural environs of Hasek’s life and work is underway in all seriousness at this time already. Inspiration is being provided not only by the changing views of political attributes, but also newly discovered archival materials that make it easier to make sense of the aspects of World War I and the demise of Austria-Hungary, and also the standing of the Czechoslovak Legions and ethnic and expatriates’ organizations. No less important is the programmatic intent to install in Lipnice Josef Malejovský’s statue of Jaroslav Hasek that is a property of the Capital City Prague, which can be transferred free-of-charge to the town of Lipnice. In collaboration with Czech Railways, the preparations of historic train run along Svejk’s wartime anabasis are almost complete. Aboard the train will be even a multi-lingual, comprehensive, mobile exhibit devoted to Hasek, his era and work, which can be installed in Czech Centers of the Foreign Ministry. There are other remarkable initiatives underway to foster rejuvenation of immortality of Jaroslav Hasek. The gathering included also an informal commemoration of this year’s 123rd anniversary of Hasek’s birthday that included laying of wreaths and flowers at his grave in the Old Lipnice Cemetery. (See the photo above.)

The workshop ended with a hike to the aforementioned Bretschneider's Ear - National Memorial of Eavesdropping And Wiretapping, anatomically correct sculpture hewn in a granite wall of a former apprentice quarry. It was there where the Interior Minister, Frantisek Bublan (right) told the Brixen Press Club, among other things: "I have laid flowers on the grave of Jaroslav Hasek with great respect, because I greatly esteem his literary heritage and human values. I regret when Hasek is being mentioned in context of politics in consequence of which simplified ideological opinions and attitudes are being accentuated. Jaroslav Hasek was a bohemian and wanderer, but he was not occupied with politics. He got to see large part of Europe, even the Balkans, and used the experiences from his journeys in his stories. And above all, he was not seeing the life around himself through the prism of ideology, but through the eyes of a common man and that is why his literary heritage is still alive. The reason Hasek's main work, The Fateful Adventures of The Good Soldier Svejk has been translated into dozens of languages is that it is of the life of ordinary people, speaks of their cares and desires. And I believe that even Czech society will manage to grasp Hasek's heritage in such a way that it will speak to us more intensely and contribute to making the world, and our lives as well, better."