http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/authors/167/emmanuel-klint-gassner Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Thu, 14 May 2026 18:54:11 -0400 Thu, 14 May 2026 18:54:11 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/197/the-resilient-czech-spirit-on-display-in-bohumil-hrabals-closely-observed-trains-and-i-served-the-king-of-england By Emmanuel Klint-Gassner - Although he finished a degree in law at Charles University during the beginning of World War II, Hrabal was never allowed to practice. Later, as the Communists took power, Hrabal’s books were not allowed to be published, and so they remained underground in the literature world until after the Velvet Revolution in 1989. This is the setting of Hrabal’s world, and therefore it is also the setting of two of his most famous novels: Closely Observed Trains and I Served the King of England. The main character of each book is different, yet strangely similar in their symbolic representation... Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:05 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/197/the-resilient-czech-spirit-on-display-in-bohumil-hrabals-closely-observed-trains-and-i-served-the-king-of-england