[Ruiceara]

I haven't read Closely Observed Trains, but I've read everything by Hrabal I could get my hands on (5 or 6 novels/novellas, I think) and of those I'd probably recommend I Served the King of England or Too Loud A Solitude as good starting points; the latter is a masterpiece IMO, but the former might be slightly more accessible. Then again, the only one I wouldn't recommend is Dancing Lessons For The Advanced In Age, which came across as a failed experiment (a 100-page novella consisting of one interminable sentence); apart from that one, I've yet to read anything by Hrabal I didn't love.

Thanks for the write-up on this, Max, I'm going to have to dig this one up. I know what you mean about Hrabal's weird mix of very serious subjects and silly - bordering on obscene - slapstick humour; showing a gleefully sharp lack of respect for the society he lived in. (In one chapter of I Served The King of England, our intrepid anti-hero, who's been on just about every side there is in mid-20th century Central Europe, is released from jail together with another survivor, and it's all played more or less for laughs until they arrive at the other man's former home town and can't find it... turns out the town is Lidice.) It's a tradition that echoes in a lot of dissident literature, of course - the underdog laughing in his oppressor's face, or at least behind his back, and hiding the serious meaning behind jokes - but Hrabal manages better than most to have the two balance out in a way that gives his books a more general meaning than just "the current government of the CSSR sucks;" the absurdity of life under the boot. Come for the dick jokes, stay for the cold showers.