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The Unbearable Lightness of Being
by: Milan Kundera

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Collectible Price: $19.95
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 891.8635
EAN: 9780060152581
ISBN: 0060152583
Label: Harper & Row
Manufacturer: Harper & Row
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 314
Publication Date: 1984-02
Publisher: Harper & Row
Sales Rank: 1219144
Studio: Harper & Row

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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 Book Prize for Fiction and quickly became an international bestseller. Twenty years later, the novel has established itself as a modern classic. To commemorate the anniversary of its first English-language publication, HarperCollins is proud to offer a special hardcover edition.

A young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing; one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover -- these are the two couples whose story is told in this masterful novel.

Controlled by day, Tereza's jealousy awakens by night, transformed into ineffably sad death-dreams, while Tomas, a successful surgeon, alternates loving devotion to the dependent Tereza with the ardent pursuit of other women. Sabina, an independent, free-spirited artist, lives her life as a series of betrayals -- of parents, husband, country, love itself -- whereas her lover, the intellectual Franz, loses all because of his earnest goodness and fidelity.

In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. Hence we feel, says the novelist, 'the unbearable lightness of being' -- not only as the consequence of our private acts but also in the public sphere, and the two inevitably intertwine.

This magnificent novel encompasses the extremes of comedy and tragedy, and embraces, it seems, all aspects of human existence. It juxtaposes geographically distant places (Prague, Geneva, Paris, Thailand, the United States, a forlorn Bohemian village); brilliant and playful reflections (on 'eternal return,' on kitsch, on man and animals -- Tomas and Tereza have a beloved doe named Karenin); and a variety of styles (from the farcical to the elegiac) to take its place as perhaps the major achievement of one of the world's truly great writers.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Unbearably True
Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being is a light masterpiece, encapsulating the philosophy of a writer who happened to be Czech, happened to live under a repressive regime, and chose to make the best of his life, realizing the futility of wondering "what if."

This is a book of ideas, though I cannot comment on its stylistic merit given my ignorance of Czech. It is not primarily a book of political protest. Rather, it is a philosophical flirtation with the possibility of finding meaning and dignity in one individual life. Tomas's philandering is (or so the author seems to argue) merely an attempt to find some "weight" in the peculiarities that separate one woman from another, supposedly only released during orgasmic ecstasy.

His wife, Teresa, relegated to the role of a docile "love" whose bed Tomas sleeps in after repeatedly two-timing her, is the knowing and passive victim of his affections. ... Read More

Rating:

- good title
this is not the best kundera book I have read. I preferred his "Immortality" which to me is a much deeper and challenging book. However, a Kundera book is always a gift and a challenge.

Rating:

- Singular
One of the discussion topics for this book, suggested by a reader below, is what one can read after reading this masterpiece. This work is so impressive it is impossible to recommend a follow up. Perhaps the answer is a re-read... which is what I did.

I understand the author's thesis to be that historical crimes become lighter (more palatable) with historical distance so existence is lighter, but living in the time/place of their perpetration can be unbearable. This thesis is demonstrated through the main characters, Tomas and Tereza whose lives he sketches. There are three other characters, but their plight is not as engrossing.

Through the lives of his characters Kundera shows how the Russians came to Czechoslovakia following WWII. He describes, in a way only one who has survived it can, how the occupiers put their tentacles into the lives of ordinary citizens.

Tomas, like ... Read More

Rating:

- Erotic Philosophy
Einmal ist keinmal. Once is nonce. If you only live once, how can life matter? It is unbearably light.You live and you die.

Milan Kundera offers an alternative: perhaps your life happens all over again.

Given three colored blocks--red, blue, and yellow--you can rearrange them; and rearrange them; and once again rearrange them. But soon, you repeat yourself. Given an infinite amount of time, these arrangements will repeat infinitely. Apply that to all the universe and your entire life. If Nietzsche's theory of eternal return, as articulated in The Gay Science (Philosophical Classics)(section 341), is true, then you have read this review an infinite number of times and (worse!) will have to read this an infinite number of times again.

Of course, it is impossible to know whether life repeats infinitely (and is unbearably heavy) or whether life is only once (and is unbearably heavy). It ... Read More

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