Schlemihl

[Dave Monroe]

... speak of the Schweijk ... just perusing yesterday morning's Chicago Tribune,
and, sure enough, there's a long article in the "Tempo"section on a new
translation of (as translated here) The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier
Svejk in the World War by Jaroslav Hasek.  A coupla guys, unhappen with available
translations (I've only seen the Penguin ed., which is apparently an old, already
paid for, translation), decided to do it themselves.  However, unable to find a
traditional, book-printin' publisher, they went the e-book/print-on-demand way,
available as an e-book at http://Zenny.com as well as http://1stBooks.com ...
Sounds interesting, and of interest to anyone here, by the way.  Apparently
unfinished--Hasek completed three and a half of six projected books, think this
trans. might only be the first book--but, to quote the author, "should the word
'Svejk' become a new epithet in the flowery wreath of defamation, I will have
been content with this as my contribution to the enrichment of the Czezh
language."  Apparently "veils a fairly serious indictment of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire."  Svejk is described as "a confidence man posing as a holy fool."
Reminds me, Tyrone Slothrop and the Cosmpolitan in Herman melville's The
Confidence Man, compare and contrast ... but thanks for mentioning it, gives me
an incentive to actually read Hasek's novel now ...

KXX4493553 at aol.com wrote:

> In einer eMail vom 10.08.00 10:00:42 (MEZ) - Mitteleurop. Sommerzeit schreibt
> matzig at gowebway.com:
>
> <<
>  In German, a Schlemihl (Schlemiel) is an unlucky fellow who despite a string
> of personal desasters remains patient, even optimistic. It's this
> characteristic that makes Schweijk a Schlemihl. Also see Adalbert von
> Chamisso's phantastic novella of the man who sells his shadow to the devil,
> "Peter Schlemihl's wundersame Geschichte" (ca. 1810). St. >>
> But is it really the opposite of my definition? The Schlemihl is an
> ambivalent character, and in every-day-speaking it's a synonym for "sly dog",
> Schlitzohr. It's not a "Hans im Glück", "Jack-in-luck", who's really a silly
> person and who is happy even he's the dupe.
> kwp