Biographical Trilogy (3 volumes)

Author: (Czech) Jaroslav Hrabal, translated by Xing Can, Lao Bai
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Bohumil Hrabal, this Czech writer is somewhat unfamiliar to us. He didn’t publish his first book until he was 49. 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 polished life we imagined and moved into a slum. He worked as a steel mill worker, warehouse manager, salesman, scrap collector, 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, capturing their kindness, simplicity, and vices. The trilogy includes Wedding Banquet, New Life, and The Forest Cabin. It is not only a lyrical river of life but also flows with the author’s childhood memories, mistakes, and small sins. Sometimes, the sudden emergence of melancholy and depression darkens the water. Floating on the surface are the author’s emotions and the fears, shyness of his youth, and 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 through his wife’s mocking retorts and his own unflinching gaze.