About the Author

Bohumil Hrabal (1914-97) was a celebrated Czech writer whose books include Closely Watched Trains, which was adapted into a film that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film in 1967, I Served the King of England, and Pirouettes on a Postage Stamp, the last also published by Karolinum Press, Charles University, Prague. David Short works as a translator, interpreter, and editor, and has authored several Czech textbooks and coauthored a number of publications in the field of linguistics.

Reviews

"Hrabal embodies as no other the fascinating Prague. He couples people's humor to baroque imagination." (Milan Kundera)"