This 1982 book was the first major critical study of Jaroslav Hasek and his most important literary creation, The Good Soldier Svejk. For many people Hasek's book is simply extremely funny. Cecil Parrott begins from the point of view that a closer examination of the conditions under which the book was written reveal it to be a much deeper work than it appears on the surface: a tragic as well as a comic masterpiece. A leading authority on Hasek, Parrott wrote the definitive biography, The Bad Bohemian, and translated the unexpurgated version of Svejk and many of Hasek's short stories. This book is lucidly written and aimed at the non-specialist reader who requires guidance in coming to terms with this strange book. All quotations are translated, and the book also includes a number of illustrations including the only sketch of Svejk that Hasek approved.