Wedding·New Life·Cabin in the Woods - A Biographical Trilogy (3 Books in Total)

Author: Bohumil Hrabal
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: Bohumil Hrabal, this Czech writer is somewhat unfamiliar to us; he didn't publish his first book until he was 49 years old. He created the Czech-style "Pabitel" figure, won many literary awards, and his novels were adapted into several films. This Czech writer is also special, and the specialness lies in his ordinariness. After obtaining a law degree, he left the life we imagine to be refined and elegant, moved into a slum, and worked as a steel mill worker, warehouse manager, salesman, scrap packer, and stage scenery worker. Hrabal said, "If others can live in a steel mill, why can't I?" He wrote between heavy work, about ordinary people like workers, small shop owners, drivers, and scavengers, writing about their kindness, simplicity, and vices. The trilogy includes The Wedding, A New Life, and The Forest Cabin. These three works are not only a lyrical river of life, flowing with the author's childhood memories, mistakes, and small sins, but sometimes the sudden appearance of melancholy and depression darkens the water. Floating on the surface are the author's emotions and the fears, shyness of his youth, the wounds he and his friends treated with drinking, sometimes even getting drunk. The river of the 20th century becomes more real as it becomes dirtier. Ultimately, this river is a modern collage, with its flowing water mixed with all sorts of random things thrown in from the outside. At first glance, they seem unrelated, "but without these, beauty would be monotonous, and reflections on the contemporary and on humanity would be incomplete." More importantly, these three works are the author's ruthless self-examination. He often asks himself, "Who am I?" Here, he examines himself with his wife's mocking retorts and merciless gaze.