Bachura Scandal and Other Stories and Sketches
Each of the 32 brief satirical tales in this collection (24 of which are translated into English for the first time here) has an ending that in one way or another comments on the twisted logic of politics and bureaucracy: a thief is found guilty at a public trial with little evidence and passes gas in the courtroom as his final statement; the Young Czech party turns an expensive electoral defeat into a ``moral victory'' with a simple newspaper article; an infantryman with an absurdly large head dies while waiting to receive a cap in the correct size; an Austrian whose left kidney has been replaced by a pig's cannot return home from a foreign country because the importation of pigs is illegal. Many of these exhibit cynicism towards the press as well, reflecting Hasek's checkered career as a journalist, particularly as a none-too-factual editor of Animal World. Anecdotes about key chapters in the life of this Prague native are laid out in a juicy introduction by Menhennet, who teaches Austrian/Czech history at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. The memory of a man who was both a prankster and an anarchist is well-served by this humorous and politically astute book.Copyright 1992 Cahners Business Information, Inc.