Bohumil Hrabal (1914–1997) is considered one of the greatest Czech writers of the twentieth century. Closely Watched Trains (1965) is his best-known novel. Set in German-occupied Czechoslovakia during World War II, it was made into an Academy Award–winning film. When Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, Hrabal’s writings, including Too Loud a Solitude (1976), about the physical destruction of literature, were published underground. He died after falling from a hospital window in Prague. Some say he was feeding pigeons, others that he committed suicide.
WORKS THAT HAVE APPEARED IN NARRATIVE:
- Closely Watched Trains, a short story, in Winter 2013