Editing Bohumil Hrabal (section)

==Early writing career==
Hrabal began as a poet, producing a collection of lyrical poetry in 1948, entitled ''Ztracená ulička''. It was withdrawn from circulation when the communist regime was established. In the early 1950s, Hrabal was a member of an underground literary group run by [[Jiří Kolář]], an artist, poet, critic and central figure in Czechoslovak culture.<ref>“Očitý svědek (Eye-witness)”, Jiří Kolář (K. Jadrný, 1983)</ref> Another member of the group was the novelist [[Josef Škvorecký]]. Hrabal produced stories for the group, but did not seek publication.

Two stories by Hrabal (''Hovory lidí'') appeared in 1956 as a supplement in the annual ''Report of the Association of Czech Bibliophiles'' ({{langx|cs|Zprávy spolku českých bibliofilů}}), which had a print-run of 250. Hrabal's first book was withdrawn a week before publication, in 1959. It was eventually published in 1963, as ''Pearls of the Deep'' ({{langx|cs|Perlička na dně}}). In the same year, he became a professional writer. ''[[Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age]]'' ({{langx|cs|Taneční hodiny pro starší a pokročilé}}) followed in 1964 and ''[[Closely Observed Trains (novella)|Closely Observed Trains]]'' ({{langx|cs|Ostře sledované vlaky}}) in 1965.