Forrest Gump might be more innocent; but the Good Soldier Svejk came first!

Out of Chicago comes the Good Soldier Svejk: the original Forrest Gump!














 

This Chicago woman believes
you won't be able to put     
the book down, and    
 here she tells you why:

You don't want to miss it.

Ruth Cooper reveals the seecret of why Svejk will become a household name among readers of English as well at last!



Look down and click to listen!





PRESS REVIEWS

read on inside the Chicago Reader . . .

HTML Text Version

Look left and click to read the article!

The Chicago Reader featured the story of our new Good Soldier Svejk translation on July 16, 1999 in this cover article:



The Chicago Reader, July 16, 1999



Look right and click to read the original article!

Graphics Version

click here to open the Chicago Reader cover story . . .



Look right and click to read the story! HTML Text Version click here to open the Chicago Tribune story . . .

The Chicago Tribune
ran an article on the cover
of its Tempo section
on August 9, 2000:


"'Svejk,' a biting anti-war tale of a survival-bent Everyman, gets an English retelling that captures the charms of the original Czech novel."



Look right and click to read the story!

Click here to read the Chicago Tribune Tempo section Cover Story!

click here to open the Chicago Tribune story . . .



read on inside the Oregonian . . .

HTML Text Version

Look left and click to read the story!

The Portland Oregonian
review appeared on Christmas Eve, Sunday, December 24, 2000:


"Sadlon and Joyce's new translation is so joyful and audacious in its headlong hurtle through Hasek's story that it deserves to become the standard English version."




Read the story in the Oregonian!


Read the perceptive, erudite and courageous review
of the Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Svejk During the World War, Book One
by Richard Seltzer, weekly book reviewer for www.isyndicate.com .

"The resurrection of the Good Soldier Svejk. New translation brings classic comedy to life."


Richard Seltzer is an Internet "evangelist" and consultant who graduated from Yale with a major in English in 1969, had a year of grad school in comparative literature (Russian, German, French) at Yale before the Army (Viet Nam days) interrupted his academic career, and eventually got an MA in Comparative Literature from U of Mass. Amherst 1972. His translation from the Russian of two books about Ethiopia by Alexander Bulatovich was published  by Red Sea Press as Ethiopia Through Russian Eyes.


ENDORSEMENTS

Caryn James
Critic at Large, The New York Times

“A more recent translation of the first volume, by Zenny K. Sadlon and Mike Joyce, is far more fluent.”



Malynne Sternstein
Associate Professor of Russian and East European Studies, University of Chicago

“Far better than the Parrott… When I have used your translation, I have done so in league with Parrott's and made my own notes as to the translation choices. It’s a tough book to translate, clearly.”



Don De Grazia
Author of American Skin, Columbia College

“Captured here for the first time in the English language is the zany, colloquial audacity of Hasek’s wild genius — Svejk is no dainty classic meant to fade quietly into obscurity on the dusty shelves of academia, but a bellowing barroom brawl of a book… The English-speaking world owes a great deal to Zenny Sadlon and Mike Joyce.”



Zak Mucha
Author of The Beggars’ Shore

“This translation of The Good Soldier Svejk comes closer to Hasek's original absurdist protests of war, class systems, and government than the previous English translation tried to convey… I believe those who read this book will join the fight.”



Larry Heinemann
National Book Award winner

“Hasek’s brilliant invention of Svejk… provided many hours of uproarious laughter… Svejk lives!”



Zdeněk Smrčka, M.D.
Information specialist / Librarian, Czech Republic

“I was entertained in the same degree (and in the same spots) as by the Czech original. In addition, this new translation preserves the rhythm of the sentences, their overall sense and spirit.”



David Schwenk

“This translation is far superior… Instead of holding back as Parrott did, Zenny unleashes the full volley of Hasek’s humor… This book brings the reader much, much closer to the spirit and character of the wonderful Svejk.”



Jomar Hønsi

“This is a translation I can wholeheartedly recommend, no doubt the best there is in English.”



Karl J. Paloucek
Senior Writer, Tribune Media Services

“Boy, does it read a lot faster than the Parrott translation!”



Richard Seltzer
Weekly book reviewer, isyndicate.com

“The resurrection of the Good Soldier Svejk. New translation brings classic comedy to life.”


READERS’ RESPONSES (2000–2018)

Stanley Q Woodvine
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada — October 14, 2018

“This is a fantastically good English translation of the novel which I purchased online in 2009…”



Corto (GoodReads) — January 31, 2018

“The Sadlon translation gives the reader a novel with extraordinarily more depth and layers than the Parrot translation… the Sadlon edition unmasks a significantly more intricate picture…”



Dave Fillary — June 17, 2016

“A book to read every few years — always something new to enjoy…”



Martin Horrocks — March 9, 2016

“Important book and also a good style. Very interesting…”



Andrew J Burns — May 12, 2015

“Anti-establishment humour and anti-war feelings abound…”



Sophie Ydstie — October 20, 2014

“Very good and funny for those interested in the mal-functionings of government…”



John Schwenck — March 28, 2013

“One of my all-time favorite pieces of literature.”



locum — March 13, 2013

“Svejk has come back to life and lost none of his charm.”



Devin Hahn — March 13, 2012

“The new translation works much better in English…”



Ludwig B — February 13, 2012

“A rare exception… Wonderful, forget the grumblers and grab a copy now.”



R. Baron — January 3, 2012

“One of the great old novels about the madness of War…”



Dave Wilcock — August 25, 2011

“Hilarious! … If you've spent any time in the military, you will see direct parallels.”



Nikolai N. Bezroukov — 2010

“The absurdity of IT departments… can be compared only with the military bureaucracy…”



Bill Hatch — August 19, 2010

“What a great gift to America you have given…”



Rob (UK) — January 15, 2007

“100 times more readable than the Parrott job…”



bd — August 18, 2005

“Putzfleck works MUCH better than Parrott’s ‘batman’…”



Buddy Don — August 10, 2005

“Caint hardly putt it down… reads like one of the most modern novels of the 20th century.”



Gwen Willems
Board of Directors, Czech and Slovak Cultural Center of Minnesota — November 13, 2004

“We are trying to get the best translations of the books we choose and were very happy with what a nice job you did on Svejk, getting across the intelligence and subtlety and avoiding making it farce.”



Donna Escallier — April 5, 2004

“Captures that lively, humorous, satirical mood…”



Verne E. Rezabek — March 28, 2004

“I felt the lilt of the Czech words behind the English translation…”



Bob Hicks — January 3, 2001

“Sadlon and Joyce… have restored the book's fresh, journalistic, crude energy.”



Jim Casey — December 12, 2000

“It is a fabulous translation!”



Rebecca Lindwall — October 15, 2000

“This translation makes me laugh so hard I have a hard time going to sleep.”



Clarence Mancik — September 24, 2000

“Please accept my compliments for a fine piece of work!”



Charles Marth — September 1, 2000

“I'm thoroughly enjoying your translation…”



Laurie Drake — August 7, 2000

“Can't wait for books 2 & 3!”



shooterskier — April 3, 2004

“Very funnier than the earlier English translation.”

FIRST EDITION BACK COVER BLURBS (2000)

“Hasek’s brilliant invention of Svejk, the card-carrying imbecile, and his remarkable adventures, provided many hours of uproarious laughter . . . It is very good to see that classic Eastern European literature is making its way into the culture. Svejk lives!”

— Larry Heinemann
National Book Award winner (Fiction), Paco’s Story (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1986);
also author of Close Quarters (FS&G, 1977)
and Cooler by the Lake (FS&G, 1992).



“Justice is a term rarely found in ‘literary’ discussions, but Mike Joyce and Zenny Sadlon have sought and delivered exactly that to Jaroslav Hasek and the rest of us.

“This translation of The Good Soldier Svejk comes closer to Hasek's original absurdist protests of war, class systems, and government than the previous English translation tried to convey. Unable to read Czech, I can only put their translation up next to its predecessor and cast my vote.

“In their effort, Joyce and Sadlon remind us that ‘justice’ in any arena — especially literary — has to be fought for. I believe those who read this book will join the fight.”

— Zak Mucha
Author of The Beggars’ Shore, Red 71 Press, 1999.



“Jaroslav Hasek’s The Good Soldier Svejk is one of the world’s great novels, and this is a brilliant new translation.

“Captured here for the first time in the English language is the zany, colloquial audacity of Hasek’s wild genius — Svejk is no dainty classic meant to fade quietly into obscurity on the dusty shelves of academia, but a bellowing barroom brawl of a book that will forever have everyday people doubled-up with the painful laughter of recognition.

“Catch-22, Slaughterhouse Five, and countless other cherished works owe a great deal to Svejk, and the English-speaking world owes a great deal to Zenny Sadlon and Mike Joyce.”

— Don De Grazia
Author of American Skin;
published in the U.K. by Jonathan Cape (hardcover),
by Vintage (paperback),
and in the U.S. by Scribner (2000);
teaches fiction writing at Columbia College.



“Just remember: Svejk is actually just a European Forrest Gump. Because Forrest was the same thing. He just kept getting into trouble and managing come out O.K. And it’s the same thing Svejk did. I mean, he got into some situations that I thought ‘O.K., that’s it. The book is gonna end soon now’, and somehow he just came out smelling like a rose . . .

“This man is not supposed to make it. And he saw people dying in the hospital, and he was begging for the treatment that they were dying from. And he managed to survive that, not only survive it but get out of it. And everything that happened to him he just managed to overcome it. You’re rooting for him, because you really want to make sure that he gets out O.K.”

— Ruth Cooper
Retired microbiology technician, avid reader, and volunteer critic.