Milan Kundera

Milan Kundera has established himself as one of the great novelists of our time with such books as The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Immortality and The Book of Laughter and Forgetting....

Kundera brilliantly examines the work of such important and diverse figures as Rabelais, Cervantes, Sterne, Diderot, Flaubert, Tolstoy and Musil....

Listeners who know Kundera's earlier books know that the wish to incorporate an element of the "unserious" in a novel is not at all unexpected of him....

In this thought-provoking, endlessly enlightening and entertaining essay on the art of the novel, renowned author Milan Kundera suggests that 'the curtain' represents a ready-made perception of the world that each of us has - a pre-interpreted world....

Jacques and His Master is a deliciously witty and entertaining 'variation' on Diderot's novel Jacques le Fataliste, written for Milan Kundera's 'private pleasure' in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia....

Si tratta sempre di amore, in queste storie. Ma un amore a cui si accompagna ogni volta la mistificazione, con effetto deflagrante. Il mondo va felicemente in pezzi...

In a moment of historic threat and uncertainty in mainland Europe, this collection, makes the case for the 'small countries' of Central Europe as the nucleus of European values and a lightning rod for its potential dangers....

Pietra miliare della letteratura del Novecento, il romanzo mette in scena un perfetto quadrilatero amoroso entro cui le storie dei protagonisti...

Ein erfolgreicher Arzt und Frauenheld trifft ein unbedarftes Mädchen aus der Provinz - so begegnen sich Tomas und Teresa 1968 in Prag...

Milan Kundera's brilliant collection of essays is a passionate defence of art in an era that, he argues, no longer values art or beauty....

“We should welcome the context Kundera gives for the struggles between Russia and Europe, and the plight of those caught between them. His defense of small languages, small cultures, and small nations feels pressing.”—Claire Messud, Harper's Magazine “Kundera focuses on the relationship...

""After Farewell Waltz there cannot be any doubt. Kundera is a master of contemporary literature. This novel is both an an example of virtuosity and a descent into the human soul."" —L'Unite Set in an old-fashioned Central European spa town, Farewell Waltz poses the most serious questions...

“I can’t imagine reading this book without being challenged and instructed, amused, amazed and aroused, and ultimately delighted.” —John Simon, New York Times Book Review Milan Kundera’s brilliant collection of essays is a passionate defense of art in an era that, he argues, no longer...

New York Times Bestseller ""Inspired. . . . Kundera's most brilliantly imagined novel. . . . A book that entrances, beguiles and charms us from first page to last."" — Cleveland Plain Dealer Milan Kundera's sixth novel springs from a casual gesture of a woman to her swimming instructor, a...

""An absolutely dazzling entertainment. . . . Arousing on every level—political, erotic, intellectual, and above all, humorous."" —Newsweek ""The Book of Laughter and Forgetting calls itself a novel, although it is part fairy tale, part literary criticism, part political tract, part...

When The Unbearable Lightness of Being was first published in English, it was hailed as ""a work of the boldest mastery, originality, and richness"" by critic Elizabeth Hardwick and named one of the best books of 1984 by the New York Times Book Review. It went on to win the Los Angeles Times...

""Kundera, master of the twosome, finds erotic and existential threads everywhere in daily behavior. Like his previous books, Identity is a cluster of jeweled observations. . . . But Identity has a special charm: suspense. . . . [It] gets us turning the pages in excitement and alarm, and...

A deliciously witty and entertaining ""variation"" on Diderot's novel Jacques le Fatalist, written for Milan Kundera's ""private pleasure"" in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia. When the ""heavy Russian irrationality"" fell on Czechoslovakia, Milan Kundera explains, he felt...

""An intellectual heavyweight and a pure literary virtuoso, Milan Kundera takes some of Freud's most cherished complexes and irreverently whirls them about in acts of legerdemain that capture our darkest, deepest human passions. . . . The tales in Laughable Loves surprise and illuminate...

""I will say no more about this lacerating book except to urge it upon all who care about literature in our difficult era."" — Boston Globe ""A sly and merciless lampoon of revolutionary romanticism. . . Kundera commits some of the funniest literary savaging since Evelyn Waugh polished off...