Josef Hirsal's experimental novel is a Dada-like romp through the life of a young man born into a Bohemian peasant family. Told in five parts, the novel begins with a "word to the wise," moves on to the text proper, continues with notes and with notes to the notes, and ends with a note on the notes to the notes.
More than just a tongue-in-cheek parody of a literary memoir, however, A Bohemian Youth is social history of the first rank: it is a glimpse of the First Czechoslovak Republic as seen through the eyes of a young peasant firmly grounded in the provinces. It abounds in the kind of intimate detail not found in history books - the manners of a Slovak servant girl; the mores of the town's homosexual; the sounds of popular music; the way people eat in wartime.
At the same time, A Bohemian Youth is a wrenching and hilarious tale of its hero's emotional and sexual awakening.
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{{cite book|author1=Josef Hiršal |author2=Josef Hiršal |date=1997 |title=A Bohemian youth |url=https://archive.org/details/bohemianyouth00hirs |publication-place=Evanston, Ill |publisher=Northwestern University Press |isbn=0-8101-1223-X |lccn=97040411 |oclc=37625647 |ol=693168M}}