Jaroslav Hašek

Jaroslav Hasek invented the soldier Svejk — and Svejk became one of the defining figures of world literature. An idiot who is cleverer than everyone else. Or a clever man pretending to be an idiot.

Hasek was born in Prague in 1883. Anarchist, journalist, hoaxer: he ran advertisements offering nonexistent dogs for sale and edited a magazine about animals. He drank.

The Good Soldier Svejk began in 1921 — Hasek dictated it with no plan. He died in 1923 without finishing it. Four volumes, and Svejk had got only as far as Budapest — he was meant to reach Russia.

The book has been translated into sixty languages. Josef Lada's illustrations — a bald, genial fellow with a beer mug — became its face.