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  • Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal book cover
  • Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal book cover
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Too Loud a Solitude

by Bohumil Hrabal

Books, censorship, and an unlikely education

$14.41 USD
$24.02 USD $14.41 USD
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AlbakiReads Editorial

Books, censorship, and an unlikely education

For 35 years, Hanta has compacted wastepaper and books in a Czech police state, while salvaging volumes that would otherwise be destroyed. His work leaves him surrounded by books—and uncertain where their ideas end and his own begin. When automation threatens his place at the press, the novel brings together the destruction and preservation of writing in a story shaped by political oppression. Its central tension rests in Hanta’s double role: he disposes of books for a living, yet has become a product of what he saves.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • For readers interested in fiction about censorship and political oppression.
  • For readers drawn to stories involving books, literacy, and the influence of reading.
  • For readers seeking a short literary novel by Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal.

Themes

Censorship and political oppressionBooks and intellectual influenceWork and technological changeDestruction and preservation

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

A short novel by Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal, called "our very best writer today" by Milan Kundera, this eccentric romp celebrates the indestructability--against censorship and political oppression--of the written word.


Too Loud a Solitude is a tender and funny story of Hanta--a man who has lived in a Czech police state--for 35 years, working as compactor of wastepaper and books. In the process of compacting, he has acquired an education so unwitting he can't quite tell which of his thoughts are his own and which come from his books. He has rescued many from jaws of hydraulic press and now his house is filled to the rooftops. Destroyer of the written word, he is also its perpetrator.


But when a new automatic press makes his job redundant there's only one thing he can do--go down with his ship.


Translated by Michael Henry Heim.

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I highly recommend to for anyone looking for inner clarity

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Great shopping experience! The book arrived quickly, was well packaged, and matched the description perfectly. I would definitely shop with you again

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