SOURCE: Hájek, Igor. “Defence by Ridicule.” Times Literary Supplement (15 May 1992): 9.

In the following review, Hájek offers a thematic and stylistic analysis of The Bachura Scandal and Other Stories and Sketches.

The reference to Jaroslav Hašek's chef-d'oeuvre on the cover of this collection of short stories [The Bachura Scandal and Other Stories and Sketches] is a disappointment. One would have hoped that Cecil Parrott's translation of the good soldier's Adventures had pushed the Germanized “Schweik” once and for all into oblivion (together with the 1930 abridged edition, from which any hints of irreverence to royalty in particular, albeit Austrian and defunct, were prudishly expurgated). Yet here the absurdly contorted name of the Czech popular hero stares at us again, while the genuine “Šejk” is only allowed to lurk inside in footnotes.

These accompany the translator's introduction. Discussing the background to the stories, Alan Menhennet quotes an anecdote...