The novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being made writer Milan Kundera so famous that he even appeared on the list of nominees for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was born on April 1, 1929.
A Czech in Paris who proclaimed with one of his most famous novel titles: “Life is elsewhere”; who was involved in the political upheaval of the Prague Spring in the late 1960s until he was expelled from the Communist Party and banned from publishing; who has lived in France since 1975, has long been a French citizen and also writes his books in French – Milan Kundera has now spent a good half of his life in Paris and feels at home there:
“The existence of a permanent emigrant depressed me. In our foolishly politicized century, people no longer really understand how to read a novel as a novel. They rather want to see the illustration of simplified political theses in the novel. And that is also why the novelist must be able to remain silent from time to time in order to protect his novel creations against simplified, politicizing interpretations.”
Since the publication of his novel “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” a world-famous writer, Milan Kundera has increasingly sought anonymity – he does not appear in public in Paris and stays away from his native country, even more so than a few years ago At the time the rumor was spread that he had betrayed a fellow student to his country’s secret service as an American spy in the early 1950s. Kundera was content with a sparse denial and once again reminded of his task as a writer:
“The novelist is not the errand boy of historians. It is not his job to tell or comment on the story, but to discover the unknown sides of human existence.”
“Life is elsewhere” – this slogan of Arthur Rimbaud’s had an early impact on Kundera, who was born in Brno on April 1, 1929. After studying literature in Prague, he began to write himself: poems, dramas, essays, novels, also to explore the unknown sides of his own existence. Childhood, homeland, love, growing up, sexuality, revolutionary enthusiasm for ideas of progress – these are to this day Kundera’s themes in novels such as “Der Joke”, “Farewell Waltz” or the “Book of Laughing and Forgetting”. He is not afraid of repetitions:
“I love the repetitions and variations of a basic theme, but of course on the condition that I always have something completely new to say.”
The way Kundera looks at life and society always knows:
“Totalitarianism is not only hell, but also the dream of paradise – the age-old dream of a world where everyone lives in harmony with one another, without any secrets from one another. But if the dream of paradise becomes reality, he meets people here and there who stand in his way, which is why the rulers of paradise have to build a small gulag next to the Garden of Eden. As time goes on, this gulag grows larger and more perfect, while the adjacent paradise grows smaller and impoverished.”
If Milan Kundera pursued a personal dream in his writing, then it was the desire not to let himself be lived from outside.
“I don’t want to be ruled by the rhythm of the culture industry. I will always keep my own rhythm, which is usually very slow.”
The Czech in Paris, if he had to define himself today, would describe himself as a Central European.
“I realized that one day while listening to Bartok’s music. When I hear Debussy, for example, I’m impressed but not moved. But when I hear Bartok, my memories suddenly come back – even though he’s Hungarian and I’m Czech. Because of this feeling, this longing, I suddenly realized that Central Europe is a cultural entity. I had never seen that before. I discovered Central Europe with my feelings, only then did I deal intellectually with the cultural phenomenon of Central Europe.”
What kind of writer is Milan Kundera?
Milan Kundera, (born April 1, 1929, Brno, Czechoslovakia [now in Czech Republic]), Czech novelist, short-story writer, playwright, essayist, and poet whose works combine erotic comedy with political criticism and philosophical speculation.
Why is Milan Kundera important?
He reached international fame as a writer with his most popular works including The Joke, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being inspired by the Prague Spring of 1968, a brief period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia.
How old is Milan Kundera?
93 years
Where is Milan Kundera now?
Czech author Milan Kundera, now 92 years old, has lived in Paris since 1975 and has not kept close ties with his home country.
Is Milan Kundera married?
Vera Hrabánková
Why was Milan Kundera in exile?
Kundera, author of internationally acclaimed fiction, was expelled for “anti-communist activities” from the Czechoslovakian party in 1950. He became a hate figure for the authorities and eventually fled to France in 1975.
