Jaroslav Hasek has 4 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 4 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4★ across 5 ratings. The most-rated is The Good Soldier Svejk.
The Good Soldier Svejk
Summary
The Good Soldier Švejk, written shortly after the First World War, is one of the great antiwar satires - and one of the funniest books of the 20th (or any) century. In creating his eponymous hero, Jaroslav Hašek produced an unforgettable character who charms and infuriates and bamboozles his way through the conflagration that tore through the heart of Europe, upending empires and changing social history. It is the closing period of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The assassination at Sarajevo has just occurred, and armies are on the march. Švejk, a seller of dogs of dubious provenance, ends up in gaol (the first of a number of such occasions) and then in a Czech battalion in the Austrian army. He becomes batman to a chaplain (who likes the bottle) and batman to Lieutenant Lukas, who is swiftly driven to despair; he causes havoc wherever he goes (inexplicably ending up being sentenced to death while wearing a Russian uniform), yet never losing an opportunity tell a story, an anecdote, a history, present an explanation: “Humbly to report, sir...” And the war rumbles on, with hints of the hideousness and slaughter emerging, sometimes all the more vivid because they appear almost between the lines. Jaroslav Hašek, was, like his subject, often on the sidelines of society - an anarchist, a communist, a vagrant, a humourist and writer; women and the bottle and sleight of hand all played parts in his life, and he died at the early age of 39 in penury and obscurity. His masterwork was left unfinished - appropriately, in a curious way, because of its episodic and wayward nature. Not that it matters! In this masterly and very funny reading, David Horovitch brings Švejk and his companions and compatriots to life, balancing subtle satire with out and out slapstick as we encounter Czechs, Hungarians, Russians, Italians and more from this potpourri of people and events. The Good Soldier Švejk is presented in the outstanding translation by Cecil Parrott. And the book closes with Parrott’s own absorbing account of Hašek’s life and writings, and the background to Švejk. It is read by Martyn Swain. It is called ‘Introduction’, and Hašek (and Švejk) would have approved of the fact that it comes at the end! Also included with this recording is a downloadable PDF containing all the main cartoons drawn by Josef Lada which have become an integral part of the enjoyment of the novel throughout the world.
©2019 Jaroslav Hašek (P)2019 Ukemi Productions Ltd
The Good Soldier Svejk
Summary
A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation by Christopher Reason of the satirical Czech novel by Jaroslav Hasek.
This tale charts the exploits during the First World War of ‘European Forrest Gump’ Svejk, in his progress through the ranks of the Austro-Hungarian army. Good-natured and garrulous, Svejk becomes the Austrian army’s most loyal Czech soldier when he is called up on the outbreak of the First World War - although his bumbling attempts to get to the front serve only to prevent him from reaching it.
This story of a ‘little man’ caught in a vast bureaucratic machine combines dazzling wordplay and piercing satire to create a hilariously subversive depiction of the futility of war.
Starring Sam Kelly as Svejk and Adrian Lukis as Lukas. Directed by Gary Brown.
©2010 AudioGO Ltd (P)2010 AudioGO Ltd
The Good Soldier Svejk
Summary
Jaroslav Hasek's world-famous satirical farce The Good Soldier Svejk has been translated into over 60 languages, and is one of the best-known Czech works ever published. A soldier in the First World War who never actually sees any combat, Josef Å vejk is the awkward protagonist - and none of the other characters can quite decide whether his bumbling efforts to get to the front are genuine or not. Often portrayed as one of the first anti-war novels, Hasek's classic satire is a tour-de-force of modernist writing, influencing later writers such as Hemingway, Faulkner and Joseph Heller.
©2008 Naxos Audiobooks (P)2008 Naxos Audiobooks
Die Abenteuer des braven Soldaten Schwejk
Summary
Josef Schwejk lebt 1914 als behördlich anerkannter Idiot in Prag. Dennoch soll er Kriegsdienst leisten, und so gerät er ins riesige Getriebe der k. u. k. Armee. Schwejk wird Bursche beim Feldkurat Katz, der ihn beim Kartenspiel an Oberleutnant Lukasch verspielt. Mit dem kommt er an die Front, findet aber immer wieder Schlupflöcher, um den Kämpfen zu entgehen. Er verpasst den Zug, vertrinkt sein Fahrgeld und stolpert von einem Missgeschick ins Nächste. Mit Josef Schwejk hat Jaroslav Hašek eine der komischsten Figuren der europäischen Literatur geschaffen.
©gemeinfrei (P)2017 Audiobuch Verlag OHG /MDR