Bohumil Hrabal (1914 97) was a celebrated Czech writer whose books include Closely Watched Trains, which was adapted into an Academy Award winning film, I Served the King of England, and Pirouettes on a Postage Stamp. A retired teacher of Czech and Slovak, David Short has increasingly worked as a translator. He is the author of a popular Czech textbook, coauthor of a number of publications in the field of linguistics, and the translator of a score or so of books from Czech.
"The characters . . . ah, these creations are wonderful. . . . The
stories are funny and often frivolous, but they also take on a
serious and bittersweet tone when broken dreams of what might have
been come into play. . . . This collection would be an excellent
starting point for a reader wanting an introduction to Hrabal's
writing. Very highly recommended."-- "Mookse and Gripes"
"The stories humorously portray the surreal surroundings of a
miniscule mountain community in the midst of a totalitarian regime,
creating an exquisite fusion of calamity and comedy."-- "World
Literature Today"
"An excellent introduction to the great Czech writer, in both
content and form: the book is beautifully bound into a cloth cover
and features an impressive number of collages by Jirí Grus that
illustrate magnificently the whimsy of Hrabal's prose. The book is
a delight to hold and to read."--Meghan Forbes "Los Angeles Review
of Books"
"Delightful tales of mischief and wonder set in and around the
author's Kersko hideaway. Short's translation captures the rough
jewels of Hrabal's rhythmic and roaming phrase-making, which, more
often than not, culminates in an astonishing tenderness laden with
little wisdoms."--James Hopkin "Times Literary Supplement"
"Hrabal is not only a consistently entertaining storyteller, but
some of his novels and stories are comic masterpieces that I
wouldn't advise bringing on planes or to doctors' waiting rooms,
where those overhearing your cackling may get the wrong idea and
summon someone in authority to intervene. Serious works of
literature that make us laugh uncontrollably are rare. When one
remembers that Hrabal lived in a country and at a time in European
history when there was absolutely nothing to laugh about, one's
amazement at what he accomplished is even greater."--Charles Simic
"New York Review of Books"
"One of the great prose stylists of the twentieth century; the
scourge of state censors; the gregarious bar hound and lover of
gossip, beer, cats and women (in roughly that order). . . . In
Hrabal's work beauty, pity, sorrow and high silliness come tightly
braided."--Parul Sehgal "New York Times Book Review"
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