Behind the Lines: Bugulma and Other Stories

by Jaroslav Hašek

Jaroslav Hašek is a Czech writer most famous for his wickedly funny, widely read, yet incomplete novel The Good Soldier Schweik , a series of absurdist vignettes about a recalcitrant WWI soldier. Hašek—in spite of a life of buffoonery and debauchery—was remarkably prolific. He wrote hundreds of short stories that all display both his extraordinary gift for satire and his profound distrust of authority. Behind the Lines presents a series of nine short stories first published in the Prague Tribune and considered to be some of Hašek’s best. Based on his experiences as a Red Commissar in the Russian Civil War and his return to Czechoslovakia, Behind the Lines focuses on the Russian town of Bugulma, taking aim, with mordant wit, at the absurdities of a revolution.

Providing important background and insight into The Good Soldier Schweik , this collection by a writer some call the Bolshevik Mark Twain is nevertheless much more than a tool for understanding his better-known novel; it is a significant work in its own right. A hidden gem remarkable for its modern, ribald sense of humor, Behind the Lines is an enjoyable, fast-paced anthology of great literary and historical value.
 

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Czech Literature, Humor, 20th Century

110 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1921

About the author

Jaroslav Hašek was a Czech humorist, satirist, writer and anarchist best known for his novel The Good Soldier Švejk (Czech: Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za světové války), an unfinished collection of farcical incidents about a soldier in World War I and a satire on the ineptitude of authority figures, which has been translated into sixty languages. He also wrote some 1,500 short stories. He was a journalist, bohemian, and practical joker.

Reviews

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slim volume of stories reflecting Hasek's experience of the chaos of the russian civil war. Somehow Hasek found himself as s Soviet administrator in Siberia. I don't think he would have been a good one. His instinctive irreverence and dislike of government shines through in these stories which are extremely funny. Many of the stories revolve around his love/hate relationship with a local military commander who constantly threatens to have Hasek shot. He is none too bright though and Hasek easily outwits him.

Worth a read. Do read Svejk first though

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Transfer de Personalitate aka Personality Transfer, based on Povestiri Vesele aka Stories by Jaroslav Hasek, author of The Good Soldier Svejk https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/09/...

7 out of 10


The adaptation of a story by Jaroslav Hasek that I have seen last night was not just flawed, it seemed rather bad, albeit it was nominated for some prizes by the UNITER, which means either I am talking nonsense (spoiler alert: it sounds about right) or they do not know what they are talking about, and the third option:

The level in that year (and maybe for longer) for theater productions for television, in my land, dropped so low that this bizarre offer was As Good As It Gets – indeed, as far as I can tell, the actor in the leading role of Josef Pabliceck used to be the dean of the University of Acting, and maybe he still has that important position
There is also Dorel Visan, another thespian of the old guard, one that had some merits, but if you ask me, he is over the top, offensive at times, and I cannot help but think of what he did off stage, where he appears to be the promoter of some outlandish notions, and yes, we must concentrate on the art, not the individual, but this is a subjective take

Intellectuals https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/06/... is a marvelous book by Paul Johnson, in which we find about the life of Leo Tolstoy, Henrik Ibsen, Ernest Hemingway, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and a few other prominent luminaries, who have had some awful sides to their character…
Nevertheless, it is one thing to forgive the author of Anna Karenina, and another to be clement with some rather over rated actor, or maybe a whole cast, which seems to be the case here, with the exception of Emilia Popescu and Constantin Dinulescu – there is surely another unfortunate contribution there, that of the director

After the spoiler alert above, and the reminder here that you would do well to avoid this space, at least from now on, let us speak about the play, based on a story by Jaroslav Hasek, who is not a favorite of mine anyway, I was not crazy about The Good Soldier Sveik, an acclaimed novel, one of the 1,000 we all have to read, allegedly
The start was not that bad, with two policemen talking about the original sin, Adam and the way the mighty are also sinful, but then it quickly degenerates, in my view, for they arrest a man, Josef Pabliceck, on flimsy suppositions, and if that happens all the time, the handling of the plot, the acting were below average

The man is in front of a shop that says Pabliceck and he states that this is his name, and we quickly think of the outstanding Franz Kafka https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/05/..., after all, we are in the Czech realms, and the absurdity, the oppressive officials, recall The Trial and other works
It is late at night – the stupid, aggressive, irresponsible officer will insist that ‘good men are in their bed, after midnight’ – and the policemen state that this is a thief, the shirt he has with him had been stolen, it is evidence, and they are taking him to the station, and arrest him, perhaps on further, more serious charges…

They will say that he must have killed the owner of the business, and the fact that on the premises there is no sign of a fight, violence, never mind murder, just adds to their conviction, it is clear that this is a perverse criminal, and he has eliminated all the proofs, although they take his fingerprints and for them they advance the case
One of the men of the law says that he has the cranium, all the traits of a perverted fellow, and that is for the audience a testimony to the racism, ignominy of these men, the plot belongs to about one hundred years ago, or maybe we go back further – then the maid comes and declares that her master is missing, he is Josef Pabliceck

Meanwhile, the prisoner starts the Personality Transfer that we have in the title, he starts doubting his identity, if the men of the law keep saying he is not Pabliceck, they must know what they are talking about, and then he becomes…Galileo Galilei, influenced by another inmate, the actor was criticized above…
Eventually, the fiancée walks into the precinct and she also wants the law to find her man, only when he is eventually brought to the surface, he is in denial, he is not Josef, he is Galileo Galilei, when the judge arrives, the latter is skeptical of the work of the police, and that sounds promising, only there is no good outcome

The prisoner clashes with the judge – the judge is portrayed by Constantin Dinulescu, who is probably more than eighty years old now, approaching ninety, but I still saw him at the health club downtown, where I expressed my gratitude for the formidable performances with which he has enchanted audiences
We should appreciate the symbolism, the fact that we have the abuses of the law exposed, the stupidity of those in positions of power – I have not mentioned Orange Jesus yet, but he is for me the quintessential fraudster, the crook, Confidence Man https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/09/... the one who may well get the most powerful job in the world (Again) next year…


Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This recent translation collects Hašek's stories based on his life as a Bolshevik officer in Siberia from 1918-20. They are in some ways gentler and lighter than the stories expressed in The Good Soldier Švejk, because the imminent destruction that awaits the soldiers in that book is not given the same weight here. Hašek does highlight the bloodthirstiness and cruelty of the Bolsheviks as his stand in Gašek tries to prevent a competing commander from murdering civilians and himself, and interprets cryptic orders from the revolutionary council, which seem to be based on utter misinformation or complete fantasy, in such a way as to prevent the most bloodshed. Operating with the assumption that nobody knows anything, Gašek manages to outwit the commissars with appeals to a higher authority that might end up liquidating them, too. Two of the later stories, about dealings with the Chinese and a military adventure into Mongolia, traffic too much in stereotypes to be amusing, and the long story about soldiers being repatriated through Estonia back to more western Europe is tedious (though maybe more true to life than other stories here), but the last in the collection, about Hašek's encounter with the man who wrote his unflattering obituary, brings the book to a fitting close.

Note: Avoid the Afterword, written by someone named Robert B. Pynsent, who despises Hašek and has some strange bugaboos about The Good Soldier Švejk, taking Švejk to be "altogether the very model of a twenty-first century ideal - he is attractive to women, too, especially because of his well-developed thighs" (a characteristic mentioned probably once in the 750-page book).

[Stefan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hašek's stories in this collection are based on events that happened to him as a volunteer in the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. Writing in his unique style, he shows an extraordinary and insightful understanding of events. Just like with Švejk, this book can be read as a history book. He was not a historian of any sort, but he was a witty commentator. He certainly understood the events a lot better than many of his contemporaries. Considering how much of a human(itarian) disaster the Russian Civil War was, it is far more pleasant to be introduced to it through Hašek's stories than through history books. The deadpan humor and the hyperboles he used make it an entertaining and interesting read. I enjoyed this book even more than Švejk.

[Dwight]

My summary

Jaroslav Hašek is best known for the satirical novel The Good Soldier Švejk but he also wrote close to 1,500 short stories. Fourteen of these stories are gathered in this beautiful, slim volume with translations by Mark Corner. Radio Prague has an interview with the translator and several excerpts from the stories. Another interview with Mark Corner can be found at The Prague Post. I’ll also link to the book’s page at The University of Chicago Press, distributor for the book outside the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. (see my summary post for these links)

Robert B. Pynset’s Afterword presents the similarities between Hašek’s life and these stories that take place in Bugulma, a town in Russia (Tartarstan) where the author had been a Red Army officer. The stories chosen for the collection (the article above calls it a “cross section”) present a semi-coherent story of some adventures by the character Gašek, starting with his elevation to Commanding Officer of the Town of Bugulma in early October 1918. What follows is something very different from Švejk—the reader finds a competent officer maneuvering through a black comedy, punctuated with satire but in a much more professional manner. As Pynset’s Afterword points out, Gašek is a far cry from Švejk but isn’t Hašek, either. Even though many of the events are based on actual events, “Hašek’s intention is satire, not verisimilitude.” “These stories, with some exceptions, manifest Hašek’s old fascination with, indeed often affection for, outsider groups, here Tartars, Buryats (it is said that Hašek founded Buryat journalism), Circassians and other non-Russians.”

Even with his fascination, Hašek still adds plenty of satire in with his stories of these outsiders. In the opening story, the pagan priest of a nearby town was brought before Gašek with a cage containing three white squirrels, said to be the pagans’ gods. After baptizing the priest, Gašek hands the cage over to his bodyguards: “My fine fellows then proceeded to skin the gods of the Cheremisses. I can assure one and all that you can make a fine soup out of a Cheremiss deity.”

One similarity between Švejk and Gašek is their belief in following directives or the rules, although their outcomes from doing so diverge. Švejk’s literalness undermined the rules and pointed out the absurdities of bureaucratic systems. Gašek believes in the necessity of the bureaucracy, even if he bends the rules or recognizes the damage from competing agencies in the bureaucracy. Gašek, as Commanding Officer of Bugulma, has to deal with Comrade Yerokhimov, commander of the Tver Revolutionary Regiment stationed near and in Bugulma. The first order of business for either leader of the city is publishing official pronouncements and Yerokhimov’s first order sets the tone for his relationship with Gašek:

To all citizens of Bugulma! This very day, following the fall of Bugulma, I have taken over as your Commanding Officer. I am hereby dismissing your former Commanding Officer [Gašek] from his post on grounds of incompetence and cowardice and am appointing him my second-in-command.

Yerokhimov, Commanding Officer of Bugulma

For additional satire, Gašek’s workmanlike behavior creates misunderstandings that he doesn’t comprehend. In order to get barracks ready for an arriving cavalry contingent, Gašek sends an order to the abbess of the nearby convent to send “fifty virgins” at once “to be placed at the disposal of the Petersburg Cavalry Regiment.” The nuns, of course, assume the worst since Gašek doesn’t specify what they will be doing.

Even with the belief in the necessity of administration and wholehearted support of the revolutionary cause, Hašek can be less than complimentary of party officials. A three-member Committee of the Revolutionary Council of the Eastern Front arrives to evaluate charges Yerokhimov has telegraphed about Gašek. The commanding officer sizes up the members of the committee, noting that what drove some officials wasn’t productive:

The third member of the revolutionary tribunal was the one with the most radical opinions of all. He had worked as a clerk for a Moscow lawyer who once provided sanctuary for the White General Kalenin when he was in hiding. This lawyer was, in Agapov’s words, the worst villain in the world, because he paid him no more than fifteen roubles per month. This was only a third of what he gave to the waiter in the Hermitage as a tip when the man brought him a slice of salmon, asking in return merely that the man would let him spit in his face.

His whole appearance highlighted the fact that all the events preceding the fall of Tsarism had turned him into something cruel and implacable, a hard and terrible human being. He had settled accounts long beforehand with those who paid him those miserable fifteen roubles. He was a man doing battle with phantoms of the past, bathing his surroundings wherever he went in the dull glow of suspicion and making out the forms of traitors unknown.

As Mark Conner points out in his interview in The Prague Post, “One important thing was to bring to life Hašek as a short-story writer, and even the short story as the medium at which Hašek excelled.” After reading this sample, I’m inclined to agree. I also want to mention my enjoyment of the two books I’ve read so far from the Karolinum Press, Charles University (the other book was Summer of Caprice by Vladislav Vančura, also translated by Mark Corner). After Švejk, I have trouble imagining Hašek without accompanying illustrations and the ones provided in this volume by Jiři Grus are delightful.

[Richard Skolek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Občas absurdní, občas nepříjemně realistické, i v dnešní době překvapivě vtipné.

"Já sám nevím, kolik mám mít mužů v pluku, poněvadž mně neposlali žádných direktiv. Dostal jsem rozkaz sestavit pluk, tak jsem ho sebral. Ten má kamaráda, ten také, a tak to rostlo. Až jich bude moc, nazvu to třebas brigádou. Kam proti nám kozáci."

[David Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pro mě o několik stupňů nad Švejkem - obzvláště pokud si člověk uvědomí, že i Hašek zde samozřejmě staví sobě příznivý, místy až roztomilý sebeobraz.
Pokud máte základní přehled v ruské občanské válce či dějinách první republiky, absolutní nutnost. A i po sto letech je to proste vtipný, no.

[Quân Khuê · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dí dỏm duyên dáng.

[Joe Vasicek · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of absurd satire from the Russian civil war has a deliciously dark sense of humor, but only the barest sense of a plot.

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hašek, best known for his absurdist anti-hero and slacker extraordinaire, the good soldier Švejk (of the novel of the same name) might best be understood as a short story writer; arguably Švejk’s story is one of a series of situations made humorous or absurd by the sardonic satirical for of Hašek’s unique form of anarchism. I’ve long thought of Švejk’s story as a series of situations and moments, but it wasn’t until I read this that I saw Hašek as a fine short story writer (even though he seems to have written over 1500 of them.

In this linked collection, Hašek’s central character Gašek seems to follow the author’s movements during the war in Soviet Union in the wake of 1917 revolution and the invasion but Britain, Japan, the USA and their allies and the ‘civil war’ of 1919-21. Many of the stories take place in Bugulma, on the eastern front of that war, as he finds himself commander of the front (appointed by telegram) and trying to deal with impossible orders that bear no relation to situation on the ground. As with Švejk, this is a series of stories that parody and satirise bureaucracy, hierarchy and dogmatism, especially when interwoven with self-interest. This four-fold focus becomes most obvious in ‘The Supreme Truth which is Chên-shih’, in which every character conspires to undermine every other character (of course, an impossibility).

Of course Gašek is not Hašek, this is after all fiction, but among the satirical absurdity there is enough believability to suspect that it may not all be made up. In places, situations exist principally for satirical purposes, such as the engineer in the travel sequence from Narvik to Stettin who seems to be a parody of T M Masaryk’s political positions. In others there is a simple point: in ‘How I Came to Meet the Author of my Obituary’ the point is not that the obituary was wrong, but that it broke convention in terms of the respect with which the subject should be treated.

It’s far from perfect as a collection. Some of the views run close to the wind and in these different times the satire is sometimes easy to miss. Once again, Karolinum Press has presented a gorgeous volume for its modern Czech classics series but there are places where the pagination seems a little haphazard. Even so, it remains a treat to have more of Hašek’s work available in English, and in such an enjoyable form.

[Andrew Cooper · Rating 2 out of 5]

A funny, little book, and one that I picked up primarily to see if I'd like to read The Good Soldier Švejk since this one is a very manageable 100-some pages. Although these Behind Enemy Lines tales, were not too interesting and very random how they jumped from short tale to short tale in very sporatic ways. And I wasn't even sure sometimes which times it changed short stories and when it was just changing chapters of the same short story.

I think a little better editing could have improved this one, or perhaps a longer, more directed introduction could have assisted here. Instead, I was thrown into a sporatic and changing tale that made me think I had a handle on things until I was left wondering what was going on.

Interesting tales from Hasek, but now, unfortunately, I think I will skip Svejk

[Jakub Šefčík · Rating 3 out of 5]

Po přečtení jeho článků do bolševického tisku, mohu jen říct, že Hašek byl odporná bolševická svině, který měl obrovské štěstí, že se zachránil útěkem ze Samary. Pokud by ho legionáří zastřeleli, nebyl by ale napsán Švejk. Komplikovaná osobnost.

[Daniel Polansky]

Comically fictionalized retelling of the author's experiences fighting for the Red Army during the Russian civil war. Uneven but I'll read more.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this after reading about the mindless, regimented bureaucracy of administration in the US Antartic establishment was refreshing. Hašek is anarchistic and satirical. The majority of the stories, alas, were not very engaging. The final story, "How I Came To Meet The Author Of My Obituary" was one of the best. The Afterword by Robert Pynsent is probably worth reading even if you forego the Hašek stories themselves. The Afterword explains Hašek's motivations, the political and cultural times to which he was reacting and provides a worthy critique of these efforts.

[James Klagge · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of stories from Hasek's time in Russia after WWI when he joined the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. The narrator is Gasek (Russian form of Hasek) and Svejk makes no appearance. The stories are semi-autobiographical. They are not as clever or dense with humor as the Svejk novels. But worth reading. There is a nice Afterword that places them in the context of Hasek's life and other writings.

[Bimbo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poveljnik Bugulme (več zgodb, oziroma drugi del knjige) je Hašek v svojem polnem razmahu. Ostale zgodbe nihajo od dobrih treh do pet zvezdic. Če bi vedel, kakšna knjiga je to, a je ne bi prebral, bi si moral odgrizniti... ma ne, zadostovalo bi ostriči se na balin. :-)

[Karla Huebner]

I enjoyed this collection of stories based on the author's wartime experiences (mostly in the former Russian Empire). It's an attractively illustrated book and I'm pleased to see the press continuing its series of Czech classics in translation to other languages.

[Francesca Corno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Se è famoso l’humor britannico, quello ceco dovrebbe essere altrettanto celebrato nel mondo: leggi perché ho letto Compagno Hašek .

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much more tongue in cheek than The Good Soldier Schweik. Quite funny though.