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Confronting the Past: Contemporary Eastern European Writers
Milan Kundera (1929- )
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Background
- Born in 1929 in Brno, Czechoslovakia.
- Immigrated to France in 1975; became naturalized French citizen in 1981
- Studied music under Paul Haas and Vaclav Kapral; attended Charles University, Prague,
and Film Faculty, Academy of Music and Dramatic arts, Prague, 1956.
Career
- Worked as a laborer and jazz pianist in provincial Czechoslovakia.
- Received many prizes for his writing, including the Common Wealth Award for
distinguished service in literature, 1981, the Prix Europa for Literature, 1982, and the
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for The Unbearable Lightness of Being, 1984.
- Was a professor at the Film Faculty, Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, 1958-69 and
Universite de Rennes II, Rennes, France, 1975-1979; since 1980, professor at Ecole des
Hautes Etudes. Paris, France.
- Published short stories, poetry, plays, screenplays, and essays, as well as novels;
translated into numerous languages.
- The Unbearable Lightness of Being adapted for film by Philip Kaufman and
Jean-Claude Carriere.
Major Writings (available in translation)
Zert (1967) [The Joke (1969)]
La vie est ailleurs (1973) [Life is Elsewhere (1973, 1986)]
La valse aux adieux (1979) [The Farewell Party (1979); Farewell
Waltz: A Novel (1998)]
Le livre du rire et de l'oubli (1979) [The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
(1980)]
L'insoutenable l'egerete de l'etre 1984 [The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984)]
L'immortalite (1990) [Immortality (1993)]
La Lenteur: roman (1995) [Slowness: A Novel (1996)]
L'identity: roman (1997) [Identity: A Novel (1998)]
Critical Sources and Reviews
- Biographical and critical information in the following Gale publications:
Contemporary Authors, Volume 85-88; Contemporary Authors, New Revision
Series, Volumes 19, 52, and 74; and Contemporary Literary Criticism, Volumes
4, 9, 19, 32, 68, and 115 . Gale Literary Database (Contemporary Authors
Online) can be accessed online through a subscribing library at www.galenet.com.
- Other sources for biographical or critical information:
Cyclopedia of World Authors. 5 volumes. Ed. by Frank Magill. 1997.
Milan Kundera and the Art of Fiction: Critical Essays, by Aron Aji, New York
1992.
Terminal Paradox: The Novels of Milan Kundera, by Maria Nemcove Banerjee, Grove,
1990.
Understanding Milan Kundera: Public Events, Private Affairs, by Fred Misurella,
Columbia, SC, 1993.
Critical Essays on Milan Kundera, ed. Peter Petro. Twayne, 1999.
- Some reviews:
- New York Times Book Review, April 29, 1984 ("Four Characters under Two
Tyrannies" by E. L. Doctorow), available in the New York Times Books Archive)
- Los Angeles Times, May 2, 1984
- New York Review of Books, May 10, 1984
- Times Literary Supplement, May 25, 1984
- Washington Post Book World, April 22, 1984
- Review
of Kaufman film of novel, Washington Post, February 5, 1988
- Review of
Kaufman film of novel, Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert, February 5, 1988
- Websites of interest:
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Retired Discussion Series
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