Milan Kundera (1929–2023)
Author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being
About the Author
One of the foremost contemporary Czech writers, Kundera is a novelist, poet, and playwright. His play The Keeper of the Keys, produced in Czechoslovakia in 1962, has long been performed in a dozen countries. His first novel, The Joke (1967), is a biting satire on the political atmosphere in show more Czechoslovakia in the 1950s. It tells the story of a young Communist whose life is ruined because of a minor indiscretion: writing a postcard to his girlfriend in which he mocks her political fervor.The Joke has been translated into a dozen languages and was made into a film, which Kundera wrote and directed. His novel Life Is Elsewhere won the 1973 Prix de Medicis for the best foreign novel. Kundera has been living in France since 1975. His books, for a long time suppressed in his native country, are once again published.The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), won him international fame and was a successful English-language film. In this work Kundera moves toward more universal and philosophically tinged themes, thus transforming himself from a political dissident into a writer of international significance. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Photo by Fridrik Rafusson, courtesy of Faber Books
Works by Milan Kundera
The Church of England in the Mid-nineteenth Century: A Social Geography (Historical Association pamphlets) (1980) 19 copies
The Hitchhiking Game 4 copies
Eduard and God [short story] 4 copies
Monology 3 copies
Poslední máj 3 copies
MOS DIJA 2 copies
The Golden Apple of Eternal Desire 2 copies
Smešne ljubavi 1 copy
MAZAK 1 copy
JACQUES ET SON MAÎTRE 1 copy
Člověk, zahrada širá: verše 1 copy
L’identità (Italian Edition) 1 copy
ජීවිතය අන් තැනක 1 copy
Vô tri 1 copy
Baqai dawam 1 copy
La despedida 1 copy
1987 1 copy
Básnický almanach 1959 1 copy
La Inmortalidad 1 copy
Associated Works
The Wall in My Head: Words and Images from the Fall of the Iron Curtain (2009) — Contributor — 53 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Kundera, Milan
- Legal name
- Kundera, Milan
- Birthdate
- 1929-04-01
- Date of death
- 2023-07-11
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- Czechoslovakia (birth)
France (naturalized | 1981) - Country (for map)
- Czech Republic
- Birthplace
- Brno, Czechoslovakia
- Place of death
- Paris, France
- Places of residence
- Brno, Czech Republic (birth)
Paris, France - Education
- Academy of Performing Arts Prague (BA|1952|Film Faculty)
Charles University, Prague (Literature ∙ Aesthetics) - Occupations
- novelist
lecturer - Relationships
- Kundera, Ludvík (cousin)
Hrabankova, Vera (wife) - Organizations
- Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (expelled and readmitted)
University of Rennes
Academy of Performing Arts - Awards and honors
- Austrian State Prize for European Literature (1987)
Jerusalem Prize (1985)
American Academy of Arts and Letters (1986)
Herder Prize (2000)
Czech State Literature Prize (2007)
Man Booker International Prize Finalist (2005) (show all 12)
Jaroslav Seifert Prize (1994)
Vilenica International Literary Prize (1992)
Grand Prix de Littérature de l'Académie française (2001)
Slovenian Golden Order of Merit (2021)
Ovid Prize (2011)
Franz Kafka Prize (2020)
Members
Discussions
Group Read, February 2015: The Unbearable Lightness of Being in 1001 Books to read before you die (March 2015)
September 2013: "Die unerträgliche Leichtigkeit des Seins" von Milan Kundera in Online-Lesekreis (October 2013)
unbearable lightness of being in 1001 Books to read before you die (November 2007)
Reviews
It's a 4.5 at the moment... I'm going to read the reviews from my Goodreads friends and I suspect is going to move to a 5.
I wasn't expecting so much philosophy in this book. I think I liked it.
I wasn't expecting so much philosophy in this book. I think I liked it.
This was a book which chimed with my difficult emotions at the moment, as I stuggle with leaving a counttry where I'm happy, to return to one that is quite simply, 'home'. Kundera explores the complex yet changing feelings surrounding 'nostalgie du pays', which doesn't feel to me quite the same as homesickness. He refers to Ulysses long odysssey and to many others who've been willingly or unwillingly away from 'home'. His story centres round Irena and Josef, both voluntary exiles from their native Czech Republic, each of whom briefly returns after many years absence. Absence, memory, nostalgia all form part of the surge of feelings each experiences. But do their feelings match each other's, or what they thought they'd feel?
A subtle, intelligent and absorbing short novel.… (more)
A subtle, intelligent and absorbing short novel.… (more)
Lists
Favourite Books (2)
1970s (1)
Europe (1)
Overdue Podcast (1)
BBC Big Read (1)
1990s (1)
Spirit of Place (1)
Writers at Risk (1)
Existentialism (1)
Magic Realism (1)
to get (2)
Unread books (2)
A Novel Cure (3)
1980s (1)
Franklit (1)
Reading Globally (1)
Read (1)
Elegant Prose (1)
Translingualism (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 83
- Also by
- 20
- Members
- 55,843
- Popularity
- #265
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 641
- ISBNs
- 1,344
- Languages
- 40
- Favorited
- 344
Kundera nimmt uns mit auf eine Reise durch die Gefühlswelten seiner Figuren, die so unterschiedlich wie gleich sind, und man davon ausgehen kann, dass sie alle nur eine Person darstellen.… (more)