SOURCE: Schubert, P. Z. “Other Slavic Languages: ‘Velitelem mesta Bugul'my.” World Literature Today 52, no. 1 (winter 1978): 139.

In the following review, Schubert commends Hašek's utilization of detail and humor in the Bugul'ma stories and connects them to the author's well-known novel The Good Soldier Švejk.

[Velitelem města Bugul'my (The City Commander of Bugul'ma)] is a cycle of short stories based on [Hašek's] personal experience of the events of the civil war in Bugul'ma (Soviet Union) between 15 October 1918 and December of the same year. Hašek creates an image of an epoch from small details. These trivialities, however, are of primary importance to the people, who are more concerned with what surrounds them individually than with the idea of a great epoch. Hašek is interested in the little man and he sees History through the latter's eyes, the perspective being minor events, localities and details. The writer...