ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 is a study of transformative effects produced by Bohumil Hrabal’s literary fictions. Neither rational and analytical as Kundera’s novels nor insolent and provocative as Gombrowicz’s narratives, Hrabal’s fictions assent to reality, soothe, and comfort. Unlike Kundera’s attentive scrutiny of various perspectives and poised exploration of different points of view, and equally unlike Gombrowicz’s disruptive affronts and rebellious challenges to prevalent ideas and attitudes, Hrabal’s ludic style of gentle musing and variation emphasizes literature’s adaptative capabilities. His recurrent literary theme of embracing life as it is, with all its trials and tribulations, together with his distinctively mellifluous and fast-paced way of writing that has a feel of oral speech and improvisation, promotes acceptance and affirmation of our immediate reality and adaptation to it. His literary fictions entice us into going with the flow and welcoming what it brings, in a moment-by-moment adjustment to whatever is at hand and a concomitant self-reinvention.
