Dittie, a busboy with an inferiority complex and a driving ambition to become a millionaire, quickly rises to become a head waiter, but the respect he craves continues to allude him. When he marries a Nazi gym teacher, the Czechs despise him even more, while the Germans barely tolerate him. Rare stamps taken from wealthy Jews make his dream come true after the war, but his first-class hotel is soon nationalized by the Communists and he ends his life in poverty and isolation writing his memoirs. As is typical of Hrabal's work, the novel is full of zany characters whose antics range from supremely entertaining to bizarrely tragic.
敏感的小個子餐廳服務(wù)員,一心想成為“侍候英國國王”那樣的人物。他兢兢業(yè)業(yè)地辛勤工作,盡管已經(jīng)掙了多得能蓋住整個地板的錢,卻不時遭到不公的貶抑和誣蔑。他想盡辦法要與別人比個高低,夢想自己成為百萬富翁,好讓別人對他刮目相看。后來他終于如愿以償,然而諷刺的是,這個愿望竟然是在拘留所里實現(xiàn)的……作者從一個不起眼的餐廳服務(wù)員的眼光,審視納粹法西斯罕為人知的人種培育中心、傷員療養(yǎng)院等。沒有激越的情緒或夸張的語言,全書以平靜溫和的語調(diào),緩緩訴說著大時代下小人物的悲喜,卻仍能感受到撼人的戲劇張力。
About Author
Bohumil Hrabal, Czech novelist and short story writer, whose tales show the influence of Surrealism, Dada, and psychoanalysis. Bohumil Hrabal gained international fame with Closely Watched Trains (1965), set in German occupied Czechoslovakia during World War II. The novel was also made into a highly successful film, directed by Jiri Menzel. Hrabal's writings were banned after the Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968. Hrabal died at the age of 82. He fell from a window at the Bulovka hospital in Prague.
博胡米爾·赫拉巴爾,捷克著名小說家,作品大多描寫普通、平凡、默默無聞、被拋棄在“時代垃圾堆上的人”。他對這些人寄予同情與愛憐,并且融入他們的生活,以文字發(fā)掘他們心靈深處的美,刻畫出一群平凡又奇特的人物形象。1965年出版的作品《嚴(yán)密監(jiān)視的列車》使他獲得世界聲譽,被改編成的同名電影也大獲好評和成功。1968年蘇聯(lián)軍隊入侵捷克斯洛伐克,赫拉巴爾由于曾支持“布拉格之春”改革運動,而被列入黑名單。令人不解的是,他從醫(yī)院的窗口墜樓身亡,享年82歲。
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