Why I Write? And Other Early Prose Pieces

The translation of Bohumil Hrabal's early prose is based on the first volume of Hrabal's writings, entitled Křehký dluh. In these existential and experimental texts, we meet for the first time key figures of his work, such as his uncle Pepin, who is also mentioned as a co-author of one of the stories. Why I Write? offers English-speaking readers the opportunity to get acquainted with the sources of Hrabal's poetics and to understand why Hrabal was rightly called by Josef Škvorecký "the fundamental lyric poet" of Czech literature.