A selection of short stories on the 100th anniversary of Jaroslav Hašek's death
A colourful mosaic of stories of ordinary and extraordinary people from different parts of the Austrian Empire, pictures from the lives of saints and ancient Romans. Satirical shorthand aimed at almost all human failings, whether in the realm of sex, financial gain, false faith or politics. It is very surprising how contemporary the sins of all kinds of people of different professions, nationalities and status are in stories more than a hundred years old. This selection of Hašek's short stories gives a big slap to today's correctness and calls things and events by their real names. Jaroslav Hašek, as in his well-known works, confirms his wit, great insight and knowledge of the realities of various parts of Europe and history. ...Lada was asked how he came to believe in spiritualism. He replied that he had a sister who was once at a friend's house where they had this moving table, and suddenly the sister fainted and ran away to the cemetery. She met a ghost at the cemetery and it brought her back. He walked with her to the house and there she saw her mother in front of the grocery store. The spirit disappeared and there was divine permission at home. Daddy was angry and said, he won't allow it, to go and fuck ghosts, who look like Francis Kramer, the medic next door... We can only regret, that the author did not leave us more material due to his short life.