Novelist Bohumil Hrabal (1914-97) was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia and spent decades working at a variety of laboring jobs before turning to writing in his late forties. From that point, he quickly made his mark on the Czech literary scene; by his death he was ranked with Jaroslav Hasek, Karel Capek, and Milan Kundera as among the nation's greatest twentieth-century writers. Known for writing about political questions with humor and vivid expressiveness, Hrabal also was given to experimentation--his early novel Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age, for example, consists of a single extended sentence.
Pirouettes on a Postage Stamp carried Hrabal's experimentation to the field of autobiography. On its surface a verbatim record of an oral interview conducted by Hungarian journalist Laszlo Szigeti, the book confuses and confounds with false starts, digressions, and philosophical asides. Yet despite all the games and distractions, Hrabal's personality shines through, compelling and unforgettable, making Pirouette on a Postage Stamp an unexpected treat for any lover of Czech literature.
- ISBN10 8024614472
- ISBN13 9788024614472
- Publish Date 18 September 2009
- Publish Status Unknown
- Publish Country CZ
- Imprint Karolinum,Nakladatelstvi Univerzity Karlovy,Czech Republic
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 190
- Language English