ŠVE JK-THE HOMO LUD! Hana Arie Gaifman eparture is the concept of play as introduced by in his classic work Homo Ludens, a Study Play in Culture.l Huizinga defines play in the following v. 'lay is y activity or occupation executed within certain fixed hn ording to rules freely accepted but absolutely binding, m in itself and accompanied by a feeling of tension, joy and hat it is 'different' from 'ordinary lile'. "2 This defini- omprises all the activities covered by the Latin verb ludere or by ' ;rb 'to play' and the noun 'game' as it applies to animals," owii-ups1 games of strength and skill, games of invents g, games of chance, as well as language games, theatrical, musical lal performances. Play is not solely a human activity-we know that animals pla; et man is the playing creature. Playing is an extremely important vity in human life, the playful aspect of man is a central trait of human he is a homo ludens. Man is not only allowed to play, he i indulge in different kinds of game in different stages of his ,ment according to generally accepted social rules. Play and games ■ a definite and well defined place in man's life and as such th( iy respected. For this reason Huizinga was right in claiming that culture are actually interwoven with one another, that genuine ne of the main bases of civilization/"3 In this paper we shall examine a fictional world whose structure is i by a particular homo ludens. The homo ludens imposes his be rules of I nes on the hostile "rear" world. In such a »1 world the Ludic Üon o( man is of much greater importance : other human functions, so that the homo ludens proves to be the fJrily »rue homo sapiens. 'Im/ln: incept of play is anthropological. According to Hi y * °ne of ,he three basic constituents together with wl »tationi m.I - if human aci universa] cific aesth of play in a lil l propose a narrower con- wliicli will focus on li. tul for clarif; Lictural, semanti( ol one cultural phenome- speciflc literar) text Th < k and His For tum ľ.v ime is comprised ol enl aspects. The basi tion to be made ional game.onthe hand, and the purp pun m the other. I call a game »ful if it is played foi lomi tl I he most common prac- oal of gam nelli (payofl v* Inn f stakes, e pure gam ^ practical goal, played for fun, foi entertainmi nt, 1 i very effective Her. Note thai often th( ed either as a mal game i for fun by roup of boys or in lo make rn ^ional football This differentiation bi mal and i world of adults only. What ú mm the playing solel fun, the purp nie. Children play r to amuse then heir partners, even it partners are sometimes adults I oi thi m pure game times associated with childlike beh The second In which rized is the number ,(layers involved; to be i uished from ť which require two or m lone with her doll engaged in a imes like baseball nis require sev( Games requiring two or more pis interactional: in thcij id strategies all forms interacting, from ration to - onflh i One special feature o is their particular setting (envli ms.pubs. Within the ci 0f special impor- )ur topic. The third a f0] ,,m Inquiry is the activity ■ ing them, which di-act or a non-verbal ivity. Verbal gam l,11(11 ()| I | ,j include puns, word jokes, anc, s mvoive ail kinds oi il moveme action games require ' "insti i, a pack of care! respect we can lbouta playful imitations. Both Pla>'i,r non-verbal 51 66 itmciuml feature of playing is ^ dlsü ted and governed by a set of rules and those per institutive rules. The notion constitutive rules and u between them and regulative rules goes back to J Rawk* ,RS Jingtotheirdistinc certain activity if the very definition of this ule be satisfied; e.g. all the rules of chess are playing. Regulative rules are not logically needed for le activity, but are required by customs, traditions t anal} peech-aets whereas my interest lies Therefore my distinction differs slightly from his. For incerity of intention i istitutive rule for promise-making arlc remarks that. b) playing in order to win is constitutive playing. Vet there is a clear difference between the require-re playing and rules which define when a king is mated in my purpose it is more natural to take as constitutive rules those define the game itself as a closed system and to take as regulative which define the relations between the "world of game" and I of ordinary life." Thus playing in order to win will belong with which determine how to conduct a game which is defined by icular constitutive rules. This only goes to show how flexible the between the two categories is and the possibility of considering a n of rules-a topic which does not concern us here. The regulative rules of playing are respected by those concerned as iously as the constitutive rules of the game; violating these rules is as severe a sin as violating the rules of the game itself. Serving juice to a pljyer is regarded as worse than not knowing a game-constituting In fact, in the latter case the knowledgeable players of iriy \hereas drinking juice or soda water during a m tme result in enstrangement or even in exclusion. o( the The fin: of playing of emotional inv< I the players. A fr< er controls his involvement m the game icting. In contrasts d by pi n- described th >f games I want to turn now Švejk in his game pi vejk Pi ■n the history oi the novel's critical reception we can see clearly 1 throughout the years critics as weU as the general reading pubhc to a "social type," thus overlooking the nchr He has been described as a "Genius-Idioť" (Olbracht). ; ^^l -• 'non, memorial of sham to tho* 12 When the text fii Hašek saw in this misinterpre tar 1,1 and richness of Švejk we h iltipll hm. tioi h this central character fulfills ithinth ill rim ! ^ upid I it is he the t} ose main coaCi crucial situations Švejk ol running away from it. The i striking rm which his imprisonm throughout the \ reveals tin >minani intcrlac '4 calls it, "glued to each other." The second ird situations much resembling those narrated in i third is his equanimir sure. endurai d cold-bloodi istics which we rather from an E nan than from Svejk. He is nc ed. never tired and no■ úbornu Di lias already pointed out sur er because he is invulnerable like heroes of m ; u seems to me that pn this invulnerabilit) quality of Švejk is one of the ..uses "tlle unJIJ coward, or opportunist who simu in oiď Mi,an Jy< oul th< t detailed structural luch attention to the first ek d thai m idling the to him. If ,m the cd upon bul unreal world, i think thai this Lnterpn s the k tells and the situation wllJ oi the same typ ribed as passive, oi one upon whi ,hl" 'I inexorab nditions: the regime, universal madnes shis '""nul him a local ire in which hearts :.. Ih. :| 01 Sp iliar. sollU'Ul initiates in quite unexi cal ways, i In ln hundreds of episodes throughout the book 1,1,1,1 little pi to majoi adventures which may ha "illloo. whims and practical jk transforms > into 87 j ■ ( novel "Tlie mbiing posure, expect tired this causes simulates tructural upon the nsiri and rves whom ;rne, his acts some features of games. He creates a multltudt ging trom pure, purposeless, aimless playinR to™°' te against powerful adversaries. Švejk is re 11 ^ tudens-the playing man who can enjoy his j about anything. His invulnerability stems from^ mythic quality as well as from his supreme skills t ejk playing is always possible: he understands the nature of a s what a game demands both from the players and from He respects and follows almost pedantically both the Mid the regulative rules of the game and expects the same Livers. A particularly good example of this attitude is ex- ith respect to Wtf mč-playing. Mariáš is to Švejk a matter \ life, everyday praxis. I cannot analyze here all the structural ttic roles of mariáš in Hašek's novel; that would demand a per. But 1 would like to illustrate Švejk's attitude to playing by his anecdotes about mariáš: "It's just like what happened once down at the restaurant, U Valšu. There was a prize oaf there who had a durch hand but didn't play it. Instead he always threw away all his lowest cards and made everyone rl. And what hands he had! In every suit he always had the rds. And, just as I wouldn't have got anything out of it now. if you had played durch, so at that time I couldn't have got anything out of it, nor could anyone of us either. As the game went on we would have paid him all the time. At last I said to him: "Mr. Herold, please do play durch and don't be a bloody fool." But he flew at me and said he'd play what he liked and I should keep my trap shut since he had a university education. But he paid dearly for it. The landlord was our friend and the waitress could hardly have been on more familiar terms with us, so we were able to explain to the police patrol that everything was all right. We said first of all that it was a dirty trick of his to disturb the night peace by calling a patrol just because somewhere in front of the pub he had slipped on the ice, fallen on his nose and broken it. We hadn't done anything to him when he cheated at mariáš, but when he had been found outhe had rushed out so quickly that he fell full length on the ground, ne landlord and the waitress confirmed to us that we'd really been too gentlemanly to him. He had deserved all he got. He had sat trom 7 Pni. to midnight and only ordered one beer and^J ^de out that he was a hell of a gentleman because he was a.vm** % professor. But he understood as much about mariáš as go about parsley."18 ■ to pi, I, 1 nd playing/«and every' onment does). forty wi ^ significant quanti- ties of beer h Mí ,!' ejk and his fnends^ the rep tl,e representatives of the civil laws in oi "e- In -game, in others he . Tics or getting out of trouble. He i ith numeruus verbal games, bu; his own soc,aI role l( and imitates skillfully me rid. He is a good player whon, i mbling passion. ilar instances, Svejk trans-i the basic features of playing can bt l|es play feature At the very beginning '») the novel when Svejk enters the pub alicha »wing way: "Svejk who came into the pu red a iked: Toda\ 11 be in mourning in V In this ikiilful improvisation Švejk starts a game of ti tion. 11 Irink turns it into a play with the syml lor. In a similar way Švejka continues Ins gar rms of merchandise, diminishing 20 What is at first a pure aimless ga secret police agent Bretschneider ,us maneuver with possible dangerous c ön a mu< ! with much more dangerous consequences ime when he puts on the Russian „i his curiosity: the willows and Švejk il him, so he took off his own the unfortunate naked prisoner, who hild I which had been billeted in a rtth his role of "good soldier" and rigorously the mili-ition 01 paying honor to' superio absurd caricature of the' Dub ; iiegai... «ed is extremely proposes Švejk foi Second i le pla) ved during Švejk's stay in ti arms' hospital. Šv< opposed to many of hi;, mates who tend to be ill in urder to a. or at least to parture to the front. Švejk plays with their p! ■ - - Whil i ol them are broken (or cured) by th "medical treatment" an« í he front Švejk pursuer, game to the extreme am on getting the full treatmen igerer should get, although thj tit closely resembles i " 'Don't lyrmidon who was giving 1, the enema. 'R* rath, i ven if it was your father your own brother who wai lying here, give him an enema with- battim i think that Austria rests on th enemas and victory 22 m By playing his gai; td demanding of his torturer play the role accordii Švejk caricatures not only the behavior expected of a good " Austrian soldier, but even more the behavior expected * The social role which inters most often in his Fortunes he role of the military si role is the basis of the military hierarchy and the foundation oi military discipline. Švejk does not miss any opportunity to play with this role although he himself is the lov. member of the hierarchy. In ance we can exemplify this game by the scene with Luká who ate the lieutenant's canary. Švejk playfully transfers I half-asleep lieutenant from himself to the c "He went into tl im of the lieutenant w is already fast ep and woke hú 'Humbly report, ah . [N bout the cat.1 And th py lieutenant, hall-awake, turned o\^i on the other side, and growled: Tl to barracks!1 and went on sleeping. Svcjk wem I the loom, dragged the wretched cat from underneath M I to her: 'You've got three days i fined to i One of the best examj Svcjk imitating the role of a military superior is his dull Baloun. In Uns case the novel provides di ol the mutated activity in the immediately following s< lUioufi ano SvejK .....nd final lUthoril Inti th ml,. heir li ihould i ol -'II. that not all the •'"11 fi eluded from ' Ws fictional world. Tli from :d unn >ai tii ulai n play in his interactiona is a network o the roles i aper an rtive description ol this ur examination tu the fotu m establishes, describin Duh. with feldkurát Kat/, with thi volunteei M md, finally, with his most endu le pla) Luk Lieutenant Dub is Šve; h it might seem shocking to readei ideal counterpart to Švejk be« no! unlit- med into a game, a game of school professor of Czech, pla ntl> mes a caricature i m offi< have seen earlier, plays the nur ol thi id Soldi Du es with Svejk a fond not unlike constai hisprewa.. his oupfe These similarities betwe« not deny their essential dilieiv i (hen,,, fa our frame of reference, of role playing. First of all ,lls [(! tscious, whereas Dub has no idea thai I Svejk appears as an extremely in! ,. ,)llh is ,hc idiot Svejk knows the , ;lllj in I Dub he improvises the righl Thus, for ex- ample, in one of the "do-you-know-ra 31 4852 ^, |imi i thai hisbrothei »•\ II, l lir i. I I l "•' •| i, foi the I,ist time thai you «I.M.i t Have you any broth« 'lluiiii I have Infuriated al th hi of S «aim unruffli unable i" control himself any Longei. I I ml Dub ihouted oul \\iul ymii brother must ccrtaii \\ u li.m.hu.; n . lie was in Ü I i 11 Duh looked at S to run him lh villi Ins sabre. Svejk bore In. furia that Tor the moment theii wh Dismiss!1 "24 lows clearly Švejk\ ail ol plfl try performs, bul also wiih I In who really knows Duh ü úl ihn ondary verbal licit level implicit level through Svej /ejk's highly invent n |ie_ typed, restricted to the obs hunting vith k. With erance but little itr. ■ain to catch him ami have hin I. Bu1 Dub mning with the rbich; in the lati Svej] thi final triumph in J duel will partner í iy Unllke that he ,l hlde hls Svejk l w,lh K 7* Kai/ mon. He ,un by into „d thus mitia.es the firil dH f™*' to him directly: '«Don't cry. I teU ~ter summoned to him and tin '** he admit having answer In maimCr' S trik), but aid movi jk admits thai in i of it and i. feldkuráťs that 'trick*; he lets tl truth about him wins the whole out of prison and > very best play partner. II a perfect betl We may ask ourself why indeed did Š\ ry in the chap« the very sim; for the tun of it, in ord dkuráťs Show; activity in which he then inn sei. fore seeing the chaplain Švejk know the religious Produced into the novel by one ot thi telling Svejk: " Tomorrow we're going to tun chapel to Ik rmon. We shall all of u right under the pulpit. There'll be some fun.' "27 To Švejk like to all the other prisoners and like to Jcldkurát K whole sermon is a show. Švejk, in order to enhance the fun, tu >ive spectator into a co-actor. The show needs a repenting sinnc imes th< Fcldkurát Katz is a passionate player and immediately in Švejk the playing man. He demands him as his putzflek, be vejk does what he does just for the fun of it: "1 when I was preaching I found a bastard who started blub- bing just for fun. That's the kind of cove I need."28 Švejk b i his play partner and participates actively in Kat iter performances." When he assists Katz in the drum) the 1 by everybody present as an excellent entertainment: It looked like a Red Indian dance round a sacrificial stone, but made a | ion, for it banished the boredom of the du m- oly dull-ground with its avenue ^[' plaum trees behind and its latrines, the odour of which replaced the mystical : °f incense in Gothic churches If the readei is not yet persuaded that the mass is a pert both as well as their audience enormous fur w "' this chapter between Katz and Švejk says il -Humbly rej the SChaphdn'^ a» wouldn't (j "vjujun t [hen. sir, a great n withoutconf< imethal h ki ' mam*n ^c chaplain looked ai Svejk.wa IulT1 on the should* an «You can drink up wha^ľlľfUn ľ bottle of s n ^ tot0 the bosom of the Chur. ~n taken back I hey are also to playjng . Their almost nunc understand* h ether, their reciprocal ach other s hands (nahráváni) can bi ./cd both during te with religious chaplain in ch. 12 as well as in the manner they i tli the poor man to whom Kat/ owed money in ch. 13. But there is profound difference between i (he joy of aying (blbnuti) is the first and fori cnd.feldkurát Katz plays for profit. He explains his motives quite hone > his pious colleague: "My dear colleague/' answered Kat/., patting him familiarly on the k," until the state r« who are going to their death at the front don't need th of God for it, the chaplaincy remains a decent! m, where a chap isn't :rworked."31 becoming a priest Katz assumed for the same reason, namely, to living, the Christian face (rather than faith). Kat/'s religious directly related to his gambling passion; significantly, during arch for the field altar Kat/, tells Švejk that the other day he won i of money in "God's bles :|1^1 lhat iť 111111 well he will be able to buy the pi ack from the pawn- ,2 He hopes to make money in gambling m the same he Is in playing the chaplain Bui to his role-playing he is the hazard game Itself or his gambling be is no mas the sil Lcapableoi rolling his gambling passion, he los n , Tne one-year volunteer M who ^f °f™S ejk's play partner. Although they COH - ^T^, .art their play partnership as equals, expecting m F«" « report. The partnership between h * Marek » buodoj rfiate recognition of a very special *^>**>% ^itruntie muitarymachme.lt b ^^uJ řenmariáž partners, who form a clo the m.- »wded pub. Fu - :T;r |i( tall "history" of the batallion.) Thanks to thi ,,U cooperation fr< ,iv although he I th. ime of mariáš". In the i remind! I" in The ward 1 í > from ; ilh despair the corporal I il himself th< mistake the last trick. "In pubs," said I'll kur. rhi nam went into ins The train -Well. of C0U1 at the corporal, Y Marek's and Svejk's clo n all thi e. One of the on with fathei ! ina'srel lundshi piously, lime chaplain D UliS his ' 1S" ",e WÍth ' 23 m me im; -AD along the line," said the volunteer, pulling the blan -nks of rottenness. Up till ; navci t woken up to it. With goggling ev: be made into mincemeat and then when thV by a bullet, .hey just whisper, 'Mummy/ Heroes do not ighter and the butchers in the genera] In his follow-up, Švejk switches from Marek's level of abstract slogans to í er tam, ory narrating the misadventures of die ir Mlieko and his artificial wooden leg. Mli .at .1 sentenced by a special veteran court: they impounded both the medal for courage and his wooden leg.36 In tins and similai instances Svejk's verbal game i of Man ither, Li is to n ejk pan i complex play relationship of th jk and Lieutenant Lukáš. Hus complexity is created by the an of mutual attitu n ambivalence which ch the i Luka? k and that of Švejk to Lukas. White Dub is manent adversary and Kat/ Svejk's equalK permanent partner, »metime jk's partner, sometimes his t of oth at ono The fundamental division of their social rol is the superior, the officer (also the winner jk), rvant (the lowest putzflck lost in cards).'! undermined by Lukas himself it ne." his ambivalent attitude towards Svejk: While he king Lieutenant Lu lm ; thinking "M\ talk drivel lil rid the onl) diffi ve ll '37 ords h Lhus imilarity between them while identifying their dif-,1 only. This similarity/difference as well as t! . i .u , ,; i, .-,1 > ri'l.itinn- ------ „„ ^ uiin.il/iav. ni lun» \jii»j- ••- — taní quantitatj them pervade the whole relation- al! his batman. Lite on and his batman, una on wuw -Kompanienkommandant" and ' m "Konipa rdonanz" the ambivalent relationship if the Vnoi rud Whiii I ol tli k a' ,; tion with ihr i,. na) hi happ) to k. H« him hi the wo an old friend N< primai. ial. quail) pe..... lollu he otlu i h m. ol lb« perm bind ; ne "i iheii lion il ition Svojl explicit!) ■ • h t«ii!\ da ad il was thai unfoi lunal ile ol .ill m tins war and ui M |uentlj nbivaJent attitud« ipon Li otion and loyalty . ľhus in th hi with the llu of llu Ol mos, ri i of tl bal ľl,, en Lui. ' The only um ,n Luka? cuts him off. ol the Svejk Lul unplexit) ol their interact* Our i' tion ()< ^ . a dee int0 the Fundamental structural pr modeled on By the pi ol a homo htden formed into a set of his play-partners. This per tainly a major reward for our interpr homo lificantl haps, it gives us an answer to the que retained its comi an exiting and improvising homo lu JjIs rally undermines the schema: íractiveness of the univ ol Švejk to readers from ve those for whom his particular historical situ. cly unknown. However, the attractiveness, even fascinati n primarily by the fact that it is a risky, da; not only a defense against a mortal threat, but equalh Co this threat. To be sure, Švejk survives by pla; the time his playing lands him in pn indeed brings him very close to the gallows. In this resp*. k remi; reader of an acrobat or Stuntman who courts danger by daredevil a his own and the spectators' pleasure. On the other hand, vej k is an unprofessional, amateurish and child i hidens. Mis act is the act of a clown who imitates clu o imitate clumsily) a daring performance of a skillíu ' with amazement at the acrobat's a ; the clown. Nevertheless, deep m our h amateurish clown playfully imitati] itul and courageous while at the «ucn ' ll,nan ible. e Helm Jerusalem NO i Ludens. e Stu the Pb) nt in Culture, «8. 2. ri • J R ™<"«W (Re I 1. 7- M -ť/. Praha, Orb Rcné Ý n & Co.. T 1 1 . JjIOsľl\ ! i: pp. 16- ■ 14. I ; l Hé pp. L24-12 15. I J D 1 7. Mi .1. I.nik f k tura c n. 18 •'. p. 133; 31. í., p. 1