A 1971 Czech gem from the distinctive Vintage Classics list, I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabal gives us the tumultuous life story of Ditie, hotel waiter, entrepreneur and lover. Hung up on his stature (both physically and socially), but with the loftiest of ambitions, Ditie chronicles his life, a rise from impoverished beginnings in pre-war Prague to self-made millionaire, before losing it all again. In Hrabal’s humorous, often bawdy, philosophical tale, the events in Ditie’s life are inextricably linked to the years encompassing the Nazi annexation and Soviet communist occupation of his homeland. His journey from wily youth to chastened reflection is a remarkable one.

The seeds of ambition are planted in Ditie’s childhood years, three years spent living with his grandma in one room of a tumbledown watermill. Next door is a public bathhouse, often frequented by travelling salesmen in need of a freshen up. If they’ve made decent commissions, they buy themselves new underwear and shirts. No need to wash the dirty ones, which are flung from the windows. Sometimes the shirts hover on the breeze momentarily, ‘spread their arms like Christ…crucified in midair…and then plunge headlong onto the rim or blades of the mill wheel’.

Here, Grandma  retrieves, washes and mends them, before selling them on. This is how she keeps a roof over their head; it’s Ditie’s first glimpse of other more privileged  lives and the power of money.

At fifteen, Ditie gets his first job, as a busboy at The Golden Prague Hotel, where he learns to keep his eyes peeled, his mouth shut and how to implement a con trick involving boiled frankfurters. Once again he comes up against the world of travelling salesmen (regular patrons of the hotel), watches them paying for women and champagne and wants what they have. His plan is to keep hoarding his frankfurter money, make it through the ranks to become head waiter of a prestigious hotel, and (with adolescent testosterone at full throttle), to meet many beautiful girls. And all the while, clouds of war are gathering in Europe.

Both history lesson and flight of fancy, Hrabal’s elaborate novel reflects the rise in anxiety and trauma inflicted on his country; a degree of cynicism sneaks into Ditie’s youthful daydreams. Where once he fantasised about garlanding a lover’s body with ‘moon daisies and virgin’s tears, chrysanthemums and purple loosestrife’, now he is tempted by such nasty words as ‘collaboration’ and ‘profiteering’. After all, he wants to be a millionaire.

How Ditie makes and loses a million is a rollercoaster of a tale, laced with satire. Particularly amusing is his time served in a ‘millionaires prison’ after the Soviets have moved in and begin ‘punishing’ the wealthy. The guards are, of course corrupt, the commander plundering the millionaires’ bank accounts so they can all dine like kings, one of the millionaires allowed to drive to Prague to hire a musical quartet to serenade them at dinner.

‘Later the millionaires started taking holidays, which showed how much the militiamen trusted us cos they knew we wouldn’t run away’.

A compelling and surreal read for anyone interested in Central European history and literature.

I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabal is translated by Paul Wilson and published by Vintage Classics, 288 pages.