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July 12, 2023 7:43 AM Subscribe
Milan Kundera: The Unbearable Lightness of Being author dies aged 94 Czech writer Milan Kundera, who explored being and betrayal over half a century in poems, plays, essays and novels including The Unbearable Lightness of Being, has died aged 94 after a prolonged illness, Anna Mrazova, spokeswoman for the Milan Kundera Library, has confirmed.
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I was working in a bookstore when the movie adaptation of Unbearable Lightness hit theaters and still remember the surge in requests for the paperback.
posted by hanov3r at 8:06 AM on July 12, 2023
I was working in a bookstore when the movie adaptation of Unbearable Lightness hit theaters and still remember the surge in requests for the paperback.
posted by hanov3r at 8:06 AM on July 12, 2023
The Joke and The Book of Laughter and Forgetting are also among my favorites of his, but I've loved every single work I've read. That was some life-changing stuff for me in my 20s and 30s. Just beautiful stuff. He was my favorite author.
posted by heyho at 8:12 AM on July 12, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by heyho at 8:12 AM on July 12, 2023 [5 favorites]
My wonderful 11th grade English teacher had The Unbearable Lightness of Being in her curriculum, and it immediately became the favorite book of half the class, including me. I should reread it now that I’m 35 instead of 17; I’m sure I’ll experience it completely differently.
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:19 AM on July 12, 2023
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:19 AM on July 12, 2023
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posted by kensington314 at 8:26 AM on July 12, 2023
posted by kensington314 at 8:26 AM on July 12, 2023
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posted by socialjusticeworrier at 8:31 AM on July 12, 2023
posted by socialjusticeworrier at 8:31 AM on July 12, 2023
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posted by JoeXIII007 at 8:41 AM on July 12, 2023
posted by JoeXIII007 at 8:41 AM on July 12, 2023
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posted by SonInLawOfSam at 8:41 AM on July 12, 2023
posted by SonInLawOfSam at 8:41 AM on July 12, 2023
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posted by dannyboybell at 8:43 AM on July 12, 2023
posted by dannyboybell at 8:43 AM on July 12, 2023
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I loved his books. And I’m glad he got his original citizenship back before he died.
posted by rongorongo at 8:52 AM on July 12, 2023
I loved his books. And I’m glad he got his original citizenship back before he died.
posted by rongorongo at 8:52 AM on July 12, 2023
Muss es sein? Ja, es muss sein.
posted by theory at 9:02 AM on July 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by theory at 9:02 AM on July 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
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posted by JohnFromGR at 9:08 AM on July 12, 2023
posted by JohnFromGR at 9:08 AM on July 12, 2023
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I have read the Unbearable Lightness of Being at least three times. I enjoyed it each time. But the reason I read it three times is because for the life of me I could not remember much of anything about the book. It's a very strange experience and one I know at least one other person has had with this book.
posted by bluesky43 at 9:37 AM on July 12, 2023 [8 favorites]
I have read the Unbearable Lightness of Being at least three times. I enjoyed it each time. But the reason I read it three times is because for the life of me I could not remember much of anything about the book. It's a very strange experience and one I know at least one other person has had with this book.
posted by bluesky43 at 9:37 AM on July 12, 2023 [8 favorites]
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posted by young_simba at 9:37 AM on July 12, 2023
posted by young_simba at 9:37 AM on July 12, 2023
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posted by lalochezia at 10:24 AM on July 12, 2023
posted by lalochezia at 10:24 AM on July 12, 2023
I haven't read the book, but when the movie came out my entire friend group went to see it and hated it. I can only assume the book is quite a bit better. We called it The Unbearable Length of This Movie after that.
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posted by hippybear at 10:36 AM on July 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by hippybear at 10:36 AM on July 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
But the reason I read it three times is because for the life of me I could not remember much of anything about the book I'm the same with One hundred Years of Solitude. Read it 3 times. I remember enjoying it but I can't remember any details.
posted by night_train at 11:01 AM on July 12, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by night_train at 11:01 AM on July 12, 2023 [5 favorites]
Kundera's life arc was one almost inconceivable to anyone who didn't live in the Soviet dominated countries - his youthful Stalinism lead him to write this:
Stalin's land
Is the well of our strength.
Oh, drink, birds, drink
from that deep well,
and then with your fiery feathers
set the sky alight!
Once the cells are opened,
a stronger, younger worker will emerge.
From the depth of his eyes
the rays of the Kremlin's windows will gleam.
I see him, see him now walking in the front row once the Party has again begun beating the strike drums
I hear his voice in the chanting of demonstrations Avanti popolo!-again, to battle once more!
Probably loses something in the translation
posted by thatwhichfalls at 11:32 AM on July 12, 2023 [4 favorites]
Stalin's land
Is the well of our strength.
Oh, drink, birds, drink
from that deep well,
and then with your fiery feathers
set the sky alight!
Once the cells are opened,
a stronger, younger worker will emerge.
From the depth of his eyes
the rays of the Kremlin's windows will gleam.
I see him, see him now walking in the front row once the Party has again begun beating the strike drums
I hear his voice in the chanting of demonstrations Avanti popolo!-again, to battle once more!
Probably loses something in the translation
posted by thatwhichfalls at 11:32 AM on July 12, 2023 [4 favorites]
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...the same with One hundred Years of Solitude. Read it 3 times. I remember enjoying it but I can't remember any details.
I've often wished for the ability to "unread" a book so I could have the pleasure of the first time read again. So maybe a bit envious?
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 11:37 AM on July 12, 2023
...the same with One hundred Years of Solitude. Read it 3 times. I remember enjoying it but I can't remember any details.
I've often wished for the ability to "unread" a book so I could have the pleasure of the first time read again. So maybe a bit envious?
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 11:37 AM on July 12, 2023
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posted by HandfulOfDust at 11:55 AM on July 12, 2023
posted by HandfulOfDust at 11:55 AM on July 12, 2023
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He's the author who I've read the most of, one of my favorites because he was a key that led me to so much more. The memory thing is interesting, I was looking through my list of quotes I've collected over the years and I realized I didn't have anything by him.
But I fondly remember the themes he brought to light- litost, the time someone broke up with her partner and she felt heavy and he felt light, a lighthearted joke that landed someone in jail by his own comrades, that nostalgia is Greek for "return" and "suffering", among many others- he's not an author that I read for quotables or for a plot, but someone I read for the themes and musings on those themes.
That my favorite thing in the world is staying up into the night and musing about inane bullshit in the with old friends is mostly because of this guy.
posted by weewooweewoo at 12:18 PM on July 12, 2023
He's the author who I've read the most of, one of my favorites because he was a key that led me to so much more. The memory thing is interesting, I was looking through my list of quotes I've collected over the years and I realized I didn't have anything by him.
But I fondly remember the themes he brought to light- litost, the time someone broke up with her partner and she felt heavy and he felt light, a lighthearted joke that landed someone in jail by his own comrades, that nostalgia is Greek for "return" and "suffering", among many others- he's not an author that I read for quotables or for a plot, but someone I read for the themes and musings on those themes.
That my favorite thing in the world is staying up into the night and musing about inane bullshit in the with old friends is mostly because of this guy.
posted by weewooweewoo at 12:18 PM on July 12, 2023
“In any case, it seems to me that all over the world people nowadays prefer to judge rather than to understand, to answer rather than to ask, so that the voice of the novel can hardly be heard over the noisy foolishness of human certainties.”
RIP Milan Kundera
posted by HandfulOfDust at 4:00 PM on July 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
RIP Milan Kundera
posted by HandfulOfDust at 4:00 PM on July 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
See you around on another trip through the Eternal Return.
posted by slogger at 4:21 PM on July 12, 2023
posted by slogger at 4:21 PM on July 12, 2023
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posted by mygothlaundry at 6:11 PM on July 12, 2023
posted by mygothlaundry at 6:11 PM on July 12, 2023
Nice that he made it to 94. Absolutely in my top 5. His explorations of truth, lies, and power under Stalin are wicked illuminating in the Trump age.
posted by es_de_bah at 6:14 PM on July 12, 2023
posted by es_de_bah at 6:14 PM on July 12, 2023
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posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 7:38 PM on July 12, 2023
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 7:38 PM on July 12, 2023
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posted by falsedmitri at 8:49 PM on July 13, 2023
posted by falsedmitri at 8:49 PM on July 13, 2023
I once took a deep dive into Kundera: The Curtain: An Essay in Seven Parts, Identity, Ignorance, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and The Art of the Novel.
He taught me how to rip time into little pieces; each with a sense of violence while retaining a profound sense of humanity.
posted by schmudde at 2:22 AM on July 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
He taught me how to rip time into little pieces; each with a sense of violence while retaining a profound sense of humanity.
posted by schmudde at 2:22 AM on July 16, 2023 [1 favorite]
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