Kundera, Milan - the most famous Czech writer. He began his career with poetry, then finding his calling in prose.
Carier start
Kundera was born in the Czech city of Brno. His father was the rector of the university and a good specialist in music. The future writer graduated from school in 1948. During his studies, he composed poems, tried a pen. But, strangely enough, after graduating, he entered the Faculty of Philosophy, where he was actively engaged in musicology. After studying for one year, he is transferred to the cinema faculty, where Kundera subsequently worked. Milan has always had a difficult and confusing relationship with politics. As a teacher of the department and a member of the editorial boards of two literary magazines, he was expelled from the Communist Party for individualistic views and anti-party activities. However, he was soon rehabilitated.
The first published work appeared in 1953. Fame comes to him after the release of a collection of poems. At this time, Milan Kundera, whose books are gradually gaining popularity, is very much engaged in dramaturgy and essays. The true success was brought by the collection of stories "Funny loves".
The first novel of the writer
The author’s political views were reflected in his first novel, The Joke. Milan Kundera speaks in it of Stalinism, speaking with harsh criticism of this phenomenon. For 1967, the book was quite topical. The novel was translated into many languages and immediately became popular. With incredible brilliance, Kundera Milan shows the history of human torment mixed with the denunciation of the political system. The theme of jokes and games is organically woven into the outline of the novel. Louis Jan - the hero of the novel - jokes unsuccessfully, his joke changes his life. Kundera brings his story to absurdity. The book looks rather gloomy and gray, but it is very vital.
Kundera, Milan: The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Incredibly deep in content, Kundera’s novel. Perhaps he is the author’s most popular and highly regarded book. In it, he tries to philosophically comprehend the freedom of man, his happiness. The writer again attempts to portray a turning point in history through the fate and traditional relationships of ordinary people. Some readers negatively perceive this work: it has too little action. The novel is filled with the author’s fabrications, his reasoning and lyrical digression. However, in this lies the charm of this work. The novel has two storylines. The first is connected with the fate of Theresa and Tomasz, and the second - with Sabina and Franz. At first glance, they live the most ordinary lives. They love, part, engage in professional activities. However, in 1968, political events took place that changed everything. Now only those who love Soviet power can live on and feel comfortable. As you know, in 1968, Soviet tanks drove through Czech cities. Mass protests began, in which Kundera himself participated. Milan for this was deprived of the right to teach. The feeling of unfreedom, pressure through and through pervades the novel of the writer. The novel is translated into many languages and filmed.
Description of some novels
One of the most remarkable novels written by Milan Kundera is Waltz Goodbye. It can distinguish seven main characters. These are ordinary women and men, it is not clear how their fate will turn out. The author, through some inconceivable mathematical calculations, mixes up and mixes the heroes, gradually bringing them together. The novel is full of passions, intrigues, feelings. It can be defined as a psychological novel with an admixture of criminal (detective) genre and drama.
A masterpiece of intellectual prose - the novel created by Milan Kundera - "Immortality" (1990). This book is built as a chain of associations that arose after a single gesture of the heroine. By the way, this is the last novel written by Kundera in Czech. In French, he wrote such novels as "Slowness", "Authenticity". The novel "Slowness" is a few united plots in which it is difficult to find one topic (since there are many topics). The novel is about how people strive to achieve something, without realizing that they are passionate only about the process of achieving the goal, but not the goal itself. There are motives in him for the desire for recognition, appreciation. The novel “Authenticity” reveals to the reader endless labyrinths of reflections and fabrications, when it is difficult to understand what is actually imaginary and what is genuine. This work actualizes the themes of friendship, memory, and memories.
Further life of the writer
As noted above, after the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet troops, Kundera was deprived of his post at the university. He continued to work on his novels, but none of his works were published. Constant surveillance and oppression force him to leave the country. Even after so many years, the writer has some distrust of the Russians (as Kundera himself says). Milan goes to France. He has been living there since 1975. In 1981 he became a full citizen of this country. For a long time he writes his novels in his native language, and essays and articles in French. In an interview, Kundera noted that, unlike other writers - forced emigrants - he does not feel separated from his native soil, therefore, he can create in full force.
Kundera Milan on literature
Like any writer, Milan Kundera is an ardent admirer of literature. According to the writer, the great influence was exerted on him by the works of such great masters of the word as François Rabelais and Denis Didro. In the works of these authors, Kundera is attracted by the game, the irony, "freedom turned into a novel." Of course, Kunder and his compatriot, Franz Kafka , do not bypass . He rightfully calls it a symbol of the era. Disbelief in progress, some disappointment, the illusory nature of improvements in society, irony - these are what Kunder admires in Kafka’s novels.
In Russian literature, the writer especially emphasizes the work of L.N. Tolstoy. In his opinion, Lev Nikolaevich managed better than other authors to grasp the present, to feel the peculiarities of time. Tolstoy's special merit is in creating an internal monologue. Milan Kundera believes that it was Tolstoy who became the forerunner of the literature of the “stream of consciousness”, developed further in the works of Joyce and other modernist and postmodern writers.
Famous sayings of the author
The author’s deeply philosophical, intellectual novels can literally be “cut” into quotes. However, there are such statements by the author that are not included in his works.
"I hate participating in politics, although politics delights me as a show, a sight to behold." This quote was expressed by the author about the elections in France and about his departure from his native country. Of course, for Kundera, politics is a tragic sight.
"Life, when you cannot hide from the eyes of others, is hell." This quote contains everything: both his attitude to a totalitarian state and his attitude to his own glory. Milan once said that he would like to become invisible. The writer never stuck out and did not advertise his personal life.
"The true humanism of society is manifested in its relation to the elderly." According to the writer, one should not judge a society only by its relation to children. After all, the true future of man is old age.