Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age

By Bohumil Hrabal & Adam Thirlwell &

Publisher Description

Rake, drunkard, aesthete, gossip, raconteur extraordinaire: the narrator of Bohumil Hrabal’s rambling, rambunctious masterpiece Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age is all these and more. Speaking to a group of sunbathing women who remind him of lovers past, this elderly roué tells the story of his life—or at least unburdens himself of a lifetime’s worth of stories. Thus we learn of amatory conquests (and humiliations), of scandals both private and public, of military adventures and domestic feuds, of what things were like “in the days of the monarchy” and how they’ve changed since. As the book tumbles restlessly forward, and the comic tone takes on darker shadings, we realize we are listening to a man talking as much out of desperation as from exuberance.

Hrabal, one of the great Czech writers of the twentieth century, as well as an inveterate haunter of Prague’s pubs and football stadiums, developed a unique method which he termed “palavering,” whereby characters gab and soliloquize with abandon. Part drunken boast, part soul-rending confession, part metaphysical poem on the nature of love and time, this astonishing novel (which unfolds in a single monumental sentence) shows why he has earned the admiration of such writers as Milan Kundera, John Banville, and Louise Erdrich.

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11 Reviews

3.0

Nicolas Alonso Shirra

Created 7 months ago

Henni

Created 7 months ago

Eric Russell

Created 10 months ago

Larry Love

Created almost 2 years ago

Created over 2 years ago

“"It's interesting how young poets think of death while old fogies think of girls." this novella doesn't have any full-stops. oh, what a joy it is to read this one! and, come to think of it, this is the first hrabal i've read! this book is like the simpleton younger brother of my most favourite book - "finnegans wake". it is not 'unreadable' like that, but it's very hard to follow, for the narrator goes into digressions after digressions. it's a very digressive book which brings out the slice of lives of some people who are unknown to us, but hrabal makes it like they're our neighbours. this book's backbone is its humour. man! this is some weird, surreal, dark, and sometimes intelligently stupid humour. is it the nature of east-european humour? i don't know, but i absolutely loved it because i dig this kind of humour. it makes the book even more superb. the humour of this book is like comics of joan cornella meet with the sketches of monty python. the novella is just that brilliant. now, i am finishing this review with a reference of a wonderful film that i watched recently, federico fellini's "amarcord". in my opinion, it is the "finnegans wake" of films. while reading, it reminds me of that film sometimes. 2017 was a terrible, terrible, terrible year; but i am glad that i finish this year reading this quaint little book.”

About Bohumil Hrabal

Bohumil Hrabal (1914–1997) was born in Brno, Moravia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. More interested in poetry and the life of the brewery managed by his stepfather than in his studies, Hrabal eventually enrolled in the law faculty at Charles University in Prague. The Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939 led to the closing of the universities and Hrabal did not complete his degree until 1946. Not inclined to practice law and unable to find a publisher for his poetry once the Communist Party came to power in 1948, Hrabal held a long series of odd jobs, including notary’s clerk, warehouseman, railroad worker, insurance agent, traveling salesman, foreman in a foundry, wastepaper recycling center worker, and stagehand. In 1962 he became a full-time writer, but due to government restrictions was obliged to publish much of his work in underground editions or abroad. The motion-picture adaptation of his novella Closely Watched Trains brought Hrabal international recognition, including the 1967 Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film, but only in 1976 was he “rehabilitated” by the government and permitted to publish select works. By the time of his death—he fell from a fifth-floor window in a Prague hospital, apparently trying to feed the birds—Hrabal was one of the world’s most famous Czech writers and the author of nearly fifty books. Among his other works available in English translation are The Death of Mr. Baltisberger, I Served the King of England, and Too Loud a Solitude.

Adam Thirlwell is the author of two novels, Politics and The Escape; and an essay on novels, The Delighted States. He lives in London.

Michael Henry Heim is a professor of Slavic languages at the University of California, Los Angeles.