[In the following review of the German translation of Proluky, Schubert discusses Hrabal's previous autobiographical works in translation and describes the content of Ich dachte an die goldenen Zeiten.]

The recently deceased doyen of Czech literature, Bohumil Hrabal, added the Jaroslav Seifert Prize, the most prestigious Czech literary award, to his many honors, for the autobiographical trilogy with the summary title Svatby v domě (Weddings in the House; see WLT [World Literature Today] 63.1 p 129), written in 1984-85. The author looks here at his own life through the eyes of his wife Eliška and comments on it ironically. Svatby v domě, the first volume of the trilogy, is a continuous narration about the writer's meeting with Eliška in 1954 and their life until the wedding in 1957. Vita Nuova, the second volume, is composed of pictures from the next five years of their life “On the Dam of Eternity” (Hrabal lived on On the Dam Street). Hrabal refers to a “method of tracking down the buried pictures of my life.” Hence the subtitle “Kartinky” (Pictures) does not refer only to the pictures created by the prominent figure of the novel, the graphic artist Vladimir Boudnik. These first two parts of the trilogy were published in German in a single volume under the title Hochzeiten im Hause in 1993 (see WLT 68:4, p. 847).

Following the publication of Hochzeiten im Hause, two excerpts from the third part of the trilogy, Proluky (Vacant Lots, pages 127-33 and 211-16 in the current volume), appeared in German. On 26-27 March 1994 the Austrian daily Die Presse carried two stories by Hrabal about meetings between himself and Heinrich Boll. The same text appeared later under the title “Laureates” in the April 1994 issue of Transit magazine. This certainly indicated an imminent publication. Nevertheless, the German reader had to wait six years for the release of the concluding part under its present title, Ich dachte an die goldenen Zeiten (I Thought About the Golden Times). It is of interest to note here that the concluding part, which covers the years 1963-69, was, because of its political implications, the first one to appear both in samizdat and at the time of the original publication. In Ich dachte the memoirs turn into a kaleidoscope of small pictures, as if projected on a rough wall. The book begins with Hrabal fulfilling his dream and becoming a published writer. The publication of Perlička na dně (A Pearl at the Bottom) marks a major change in the life of the writer, but it also symbolizes the post-Stalinist liberalization that eventually culminated in the Prague Spring of 1968. Hrabal presents here the most exciting years of his life as well as the most exciting years in postwar Czechoslovakia. Both came to a crushing end with the Soviet-led invasion in August 1968, an event which divides the book into two equal halves. Following the invasion, the publication ban on the writings of Hrabal and many of his friends is reinstated. Life in the country is changing again, and the author depicts the situation in a very unconventional manner. Ich dachte an die goldenen Zeiten ends with the Hrabals leaving their old apartment on On the Dam Street and moving to a new apartment in another part of Prague.

Fortunately, Hrabal lived long enough not only to see his works published again but also to see his country free. Susanna Roth's translation is excellent, as usual, and it is a great pity that thus is apparently the last translation she left behind.