Too Loud a Solitude
Encyclopedia
Too Loud a Solitude is a short novel
by Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal
. Self-published in 1976 and officially in 1989 due to political censorship
, it was Hrabal's final novel before his death. It tells the story of an eclectic and dimwitted old man who works as a paper crusher in Prague, using his job to save and amass astounding numbers of rare and banned books, he is an obsessive collector of knowledge. The book was translated into English by Michael Henry Heim
.
"For thirty-five years now I've been in wastepaper, and it's my love story" says Hanta in the opening line of the book. He goes on to describe his methods for work, and for using his job to "save" incredible numbers of books for reading and storage in his home.
He tells about how he and his uncle will retire together and how he will buy the paper crusher from his workplace so that he can create beautiful bales of crushed paper for the rest of his life. Hanta constantly consumes large quantities of beer, not because he is an alcoholic, but so that he can "think better", and muster the strength for his staggering intellectual ambitions.
He recalls his former loves, the twice ill-fated Manca and the simple minded gypsy, whose name he never knew. At one point his uncle dies and, in a macabre scene, Hanta is forced to scrape up his remains before he buries him with objects of his own beloved occupation. And he visits a new socialist paper crushing operation. After viewing the efficiency of the soulless enterprise, Hanta decides that his way of life in doomed.
Indeed, he is eventually fired from his job for being a dolt, and the novel ends as he drunkenly throws himself into his paper crusher while clutching his favorite quote. The book concludes with Hanta's last thought the realization that the gypsy girl's name was Ilonka.
There can be found online a teaser trailer for an English, stop motion film adaptation of the novel, but the film's status is unknown.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal
Bohumil Hrabal
Bohumil Hrabal was a Czech writer, regarded as one of the best writers of the 20th century.- Life and work :...
. Self-published in 1976 and officially in 1989 due to political censorship
Political censorship
Political censorship exists when a government attempts to conceal, distort, or falsify information that its citizens receive by suppressing or crowding out political news that the public might receive through news outlets. In the absence of unflattering but objective information, people will be...
, it was Hrabal's final novel before his death. It tells the story of an eclectic and dimwitted old man who works as a paper crusher in Prague, using his job to save and amass astounding numbers of rare and banned books, he is an obsessive collector of knowledge. The book was translated into English by Michael Henry Heim
Michael Henry Heim
Michael Henry Heim is a Professor of Slavic Languages, at the University California at Los Angeles . He received his doctorate at Harvard in 1971...
.
Plot summary
The entire story is narrated in the first person by the main character Hanta. Hanta is portrayed as a sort of idiot and a hermit, albeit one with encyclopedic literary knowledge. Hanta uses metaphorical language and surreal descriptions, and much of the book is concerned with just his inner thoughts, as he recalls and meditates on the outlandish amounts of knowledge he has attained over the years. He brings up stories from his past and imagines the events of whimsical scenarios. He contemplates the messages of the vast numbers of intellectuals which he has studied. The novel is vibrant with symbolism. A simple but obscure plot is present, however."For thirty-five years now I've been in wastepaper, and it's my love story" says Hanta in the opening line of the book. He goes on to describe his methods for work, and for using his job to "save" incredible numbers of books for reading and storage in his home.
He tells about how he and his uncle will retire together and how he will buy the paper crusher from his workplace so that he can create beautiful bales of crushed paper for the rest of his life. Hanta constantly consumes large quantities of beer, not because he is an alcoholic, but so that he can "think better", and muster the strength for his staggering intellectual ambitions.
He recalls his former loves, the twice ill-fated Manca and the simple minded gypsy, whose name he never knew. At one point his uncle dies and, in a macabre scene, Hanta is forced to scrape up his remains before he buries him with objects of his own beloved occupation. And he visits a new socialist paper crushing operation. After viewing the efficiency of the soulless enterprise, Hanta decides that his way of life in doomed.
Indeed, he is eventually fired from his job for being a dolt, and the novel ends as he drunkenly throws himself into his paper crusher while clutching his favorite quote. The book concludes with Hanta's last thought the realization that the gypsy girl's name was Ilonka.
Major themes
The main theme of Too Loud a Solitude is of the permanence and intangibility of ideas which may, for a time, come to manifest themselves beautifully in the form of books and words. Another theme involves the conflict between Hanta's simple way of life and that of the new and ambitious socialist order.Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
A live action film adaptation was released in the Czech Republic in 1996, one year before Hrabal's death.There can be found online a teaser trailer for an English, stop motion film adaptation of the novel, but the film's status is unknown.
Trivia
- Hrabal's original name for the narrator was Adam, and there can be seen in the novel various parallels between Hanta and the biblical first man.
- Hrabal penned Too Loud a Solitude late in life after a long bout with illness and forced temperance. He claimed that the book was what he had managed to live for.
- After the novel's publication, Bohumil Hrabal suffered a fatal fall from the fifth floor of a hospital while feeding pigeons. Suicide from the fifth floor can be found in his stories and he wrote letters in which he admires certain people who had chosen that particular method to end their lives
External links
- http://www.allreaders.com/Topics/info_20342.asp
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0926156/
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408296/
- tooloudasolitude.com, a new feature film