<DIV><p><div>Jaroslav Hašek is a Czech writer most famous for his wickedly funny, widely read yet incomplete novel <i>The Good Soldier Schweik</i>, a series of absurdist vignettes about a recalcitrant WWI soldier. Hašek—in spite of a life of buffoonery and debauchery—was remarkably prolific. He wrote hundreds of short stories that all display both his extraordinary gift for satire and his profound distrust of authority. Here, in a new English translation, is a series of short stories based on Hašek's experiences as a Red Commissar in the Russian Civil War and his return to Czechoslovakia.</div><div>First published in the <i>Prague Tribune</i>, these nine stories are considered to be some of his best, and they provide delightful entertainment as well as important background and insight into <i>The Good Soldier Schweik</i>. This collection by a writer some call the Bolshevik Mark Twain, is much more than a tool for understanding Hašek's better known novel; it is a significant work in its own right.<i> Behind the Lines </i>focuses on the Russian town of Bugulma, and takes aim, with mordant wit, at the absurdities of a revolution. A hidden gem remarkable for its modern, ribald sense of humor, <i>Behind the Lines </i>is an enjoyable, fast-paced anthology of great literary and historical value.</div></p></DIV>