Jaroslav Hašek

Czech humorist, satirist, writer and anarchist (1883-1923)

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Lived 1883–1923, aged 40

WritersWriter / Author

Wikipedia
72 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1883–1923
Aged 40
Known for
The Good Soldier Švejk
1957

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

He wrote the most translated novel in Czech literature — an unfinished satire about a soldier bumbling through World War I that skewers every authority figure in sight. The book outlasted the empire it mocked.

Biography

About

Jaroslav Hašek was born 30 April 1883 in what would become Czechoslovakia, and moved through life as a journalist, humorist, and committed bohemian. He started as an anarchist, later turned communist, and served as a commissar of the Red Army against the Czechoslovak Legion. Out of that chaos came The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk During the World War, a novel he never finished before his death on 3 January 1923. The book — a satire on the ineptitude of authority figures through the eyes of a World War I soldier — has since been translated into about 60 languages.

Voice