: Re: Balancing character levity in a serious narrative I am looking for examples of authors who manage to have sarcastic/funny characters exist in a very serious, end of the world type of scenario.

@Berumen699

Vote Up Vote Down

I think one of the best examples is Jaroslav Hašek's masterpiece The Good Soldier Švejk.

The novel is set during World War I in Austria-Hungary, a multi-ethnic
empire full of long-standing tensions. Fifteen million people died in
the War, one million of them Austro-Hungarian soldiers of whom around
140,000 were Czechs. Jaroslav Hašek participated in this conflict and
examined it in The Good Soldier Å vejk. [..] The character of Josef
Å vejk is a development of this theme. Through possibly-feigned idiocy
or incompetence he repeatedly manages to frustrate military authority
and expose its stupidity in a form of passive resistance: the reader
is left unclear, however, as to whether Å vejk is genuinely
incompetent, or acting quite deliberately with dumb insolence. These
absurd events reach a climax when Å vejk, wearing a Russian uniform, is
mistakenly taken prisoner by his own troops.

(0)

Login to post a comment!