The Good Soldier Švejk

The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek

The Good Soldier Švejk is a satirical dark comedy of World War I that strongly reminded me of MASH and Catch 22 in their portrayal of the insanity and senselessness of war. Švejk is portrayed as a simple-minded but loyal Czech soldier who is always ready with a humorous anecdote, and the novel deals with his ineffectual attempts to get to the front without ever quite reaching it.
During World War I Austria-Hungary was a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual empire, and the novel is based on Hašek's service as a a Czech soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army.
Originally planned as a six volume work, Hašek died while writing the fourth volume. It is the most translated novel of Czech literature. The translation by Cecil Parrott is into British English and reminds me of English language war movies with Germans all speaking with English accents. The work is dated and has a translation that sounds off to an American reader.