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I Served the King of England (Sebrané spisy Bohumila Hrabala (SSBH) #7)

Bohumil Hrabal

Paperback | Pages: 256 pages

Rating: 4.11 | 6794 Users | 495 Reviews

Details Appertaining To Books I Served the King of England (Sebrané spisy Bohumila Hrabala (SSBH) #7)

Title	:	I Served the King of England (Sebrané spisy Bohumila Hrabala (SSBH) #7)
Author	:	Bohumil Hrabal
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	First Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 256 pages
Published	:	May 31st 2007 by New Directions (first published 1971)
Categories	:	Fiction. European Literature. Czech Literature. Classics. Historical. Historical Fiction. Literature

Interpretation Toward Books I Served the King of England (Sebrané spisy Bohumila Hrabala (SSBH) #7)

In a comic masterpiece following the misadventures of a simple but hugely ambitious waiter in pre-World War II Prague, who rises to wealth only to lose everything with the onset of Communism, Bohumil Hrabal takes us on a tremendously funny and satirical trip through 20th-century Czechoslovakia. First published in 1971 in a typewritten edition, then finally printed in book form in 1989, I Served the King of England is "an extraordinary and subtly tragicomic novel" (The New York Times), telling the tale of Ditie, a hugely ambitious but simple waiter in a deluxe Prague hotel in the years before World War II. Ditie is called upon to serve not the King of England, but Haile Selassie. It is one of the great moments in his life. Eventually, he falls in love with a Nazi woman athlete as the Germans are invading Czechoslovakia. After the war, through the sale of valuable stamps confiscated from the Jews, he reaches the heights of his ambition, building a hotel. He becomes a millionaire, but with the institution of communism, he loses everything and is sent to inspect mountain roads. Living in dreary circumstances, Ditie comes to terms with the inevitability of his death, and with his place in history.

Particularize Books To I Served the King of England (Sebrané spisy Bohumila Hrabala (SSBH) #7)

Original Title:	Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále
ISBN:	081121687X (ISBN13: 9780811216876)
Edition Language:	English
Series:	Sebrané spisy Bohumila Hrabala (SSBH) #7
Setting:	Italy Czechoslovakia
Literary Awards:	награда "Пловдив" for Художествен превод (2012)

Rating Appertaining To Books I Served the King of England (Sebrané spisy Bohumila Hrabala (SSBH) #7)

Ratings: 4.11 From 6794 Users | 495 Reviews

Criticize Appertaining To Books I Served the King of England (Sebrané spisy Bohumila Hrabala (SSBH) #7)

This was a super uneven read for me. I was put off by the early chapters which were filled with Monte Python like physical humor and gratuitous objectification of women. The story bounced between lighthearted absurdities and grim horrors of the of the 20th century Czechoslovakian setting. I am certain much of the symbolic nuance was lost on me. I was often lost in the very long sentences and honestly I didnt understand much of it. However, I absolutely adored the ending(view spoiler)[ except for

Translated by Paul Wilson (1980). A rich stream of consciousness novel, about Dite, a waiter who moves up in the world of Czech hotels, until the Germans invade and he marries a German woman. It jarred me: at first an absurdist romp, admiration for living life to its fullest à la Kazantzakis, then extremely abruptly, political nightmares intrude, and tragedy (albeit blithely reported, blithely experienced) and bittersweet philosophical observations rear their heads. I laughed out loud at some of

It is said that Hrabal's way of using the Czech language cannot be translated, but Czech language in itself is very hard to translate because of its many subtleties and nuances, many hues and edges. And then, there is a Czech spirit that is equally hard to catch if you haven't had the privilege to walk the golden streets of Prague, Chomutov, Velke Popovice or Decin or feel the quiet deep winters of the Bohemian forests. Yet, this particular edition of 1989 is good and Paul Wilson, the

Suffice to say that while it's not quite the bulls-eye that Too Loud A Solitude is, it still kept me absolutely riveted. Like with the other Hrabals I've read, it's a microperspective of something much larger, telling the story of life in Czechoslovakia from the 1930s to the communist era from the horizon of a small and rather clueless restaurant worker; he starts as a bus boy and works his way up to manager before everything comes crashing down, and yes, the double meaning of "serve" is very

The central figure in this, perhaps Hrabals most widely read book (although Closely Observed Trains might pip it at the post) is the ingenuous and frankly unlikeable Ditie, a low level hotel staffer turned waiter, maitre d and hotel owner in mid 20th Century Bohemia. He starts out in a small town hotel and finishes up owning a luscious place in Prague only to fall foul of the Communist rise to power in the late 1940s. but this, as with much of Hrabals other work, is a satire, and absurd take

reminded me of walser -- maybe a more worldy walser. as if instead of retreating to the madhouse, hrabal was sentenced to the purgatory of the diplomatic corps -- forced propriety despite the absurd or horrific swirls of history around him. but, like walser, he recognizes the poetic gesture... poetic or romantic despite or because of the old world sexism and classism rampant (and rampant still) just before the second world war, the ripened-to-rot but still shiny weimar-type decadence... without

I was actually trying to find another book by Hrabal : Closely Watched Trains , but the library only had this. I'm glad I picked it up, as it was a joy to read from start to finish, and much more serious and thought provoking than the comedy of the first pages let me believe. Probably, the book would not qualify as a 'hidden gem' with a 4+ rating from 4000 votes and an inclusion into one of those '1001 books to read before you die' lists, but I still think it is underappreciated and worthy of