Closely Watched Trains (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Bohumil Hrabal
- First Published: 1965
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Impressionism
- Time of Work: Winter, 1945, during World War II
- Setting: A railroad station in German-occupied Czechoslovakia
- Genres: Long fiction, Impressionistic literature
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, Sex or sexuality, Suicide, 1940’s, World War II, Trains, Terrorism or terrorists, Railroads
- Locales: Czechoslovakia
Characters Discussed
Miloš Hrma (MEE-lohsh HUHR-mah), the narrator, an apprentice train dispatcher. Inexperienced and innocent at the age of twenty-two, Miloš views the bizarre and brutal events around him with morally noncommittal curiosity. Following his first sexual encounter, which is a failure, he attempts suicide. Although rescued, he remains preoccupied by doubts regarding his manhood until drawn into a plot to blow up a Nazi ammunition train. In acting deliberately, he finds the answer to his persistent question, “Am I a man?”
Ladislav Hubička, (hew-...
[The entire page is 705 words long]
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