This work deals with the narrative oeuvre of the Prague-based writer Bohumil Hrabal (born 1914), who is considered one of the most significant contemporary Czech authors. It is the first comprehensive study of Hrabal's poetics and his position within the literature of his country. A focus is placed on the issues of the 1970s, during which the poet's work clearly divides into an unofficially disseminated part and a published part. Through an interpretation of the various versions of Too Loud a Solitude (Prílis hlucná samota, 1976), the author attempts to illustrate the role of censorship and self-censorship. The fate of Bohumil Hrabal and the history of his work exemplify a coherent artistic development under the constantly changing cultural and political conditions of Czechoslovakia.