U klubu čeških Pikvika – Hašekove parodije i političke mistifikacije

One hundred years after the death and one hundred and forty years after the birth of the famous Czech writer Jaroslav Hašek (1883–1923), his work still attracts the undivided attention and curiosity of readers. His widely known literary work about the immortal soldier Josef Švejk, which has been translated into many languages, has acquired the dimension of omnipresence and timelessness – precisely in the sense that it can be read in any country and at any time. However, the majority of the writer's prose work consists of short stories, adventures and tales, often published first in newspapers and then in book form, often linked by a common theme that they deal with. Many of them preceded the writing of the novel about the good soldier Švejk, and some of them explain Hašek's political thinking and the constant need to question things, make fun of them and take nothing for granted. Hašek's constant involvement in public social life can be traced in the stories collected in anthological collections – Galerie karikatur (1909), Velitelem města Bugulmy (1921), Mírová konference a jiné humoresky (1922), Dobrý voják Švejk před válkou a jiné podivné historky (1922), as well as in the posthumously published anthology – Politické a sociální dějiny strany mírného pokroku v mezích zákona (1963). Our intention in this contribution was to highlight selected parodies and political satire in the short form of a story, with reference to the parallel between Dickens' heroes from The Pickwick Papers and Hašek's satire – Klub českých Pickwicků.