Bear Dance

Irena Dousková has written her best novel yet about the last few months in the life of the enfant terrible of Czech literature, Jaroslav Hašek. In 1922 the ailing Hašek retired to Lipnice. The joker and hoaxer of old, with his ability to enjoy himself regally and write trenchantly, was still dormant within him, but the Lipnice community was now the last butt of his jokes. He was still writing smutty verse and “scandalous” drama for the local hams, but on sleepless nights his face bore the expression of a frightened child.