Milan Kundera

 Kundera was a Czech writer who lived in

France in exile but later gained French
citizenship. He grew up from a rich
family.
 Kundera studied Musicology and is
evident in this novel where there is a
section devoted to Beethove’s Ess
Muss Sein
 Kundera taught Literature at the
Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts
 His first novel and one of his greatest
works, Žert, was a comic, ironic view of
the private lives and destinies of various
Czechs during the years of Stalinism.
 Kundera had participated in the
brief liberalization of
Czechoslovakia in 1967–1968.
After the Soviet occupation of
the country, he refused to admit
his political errors and was
consequently attacked by the
authorities who banned all his
works, fired him from his
teaching positions, and
inevitably ousted him from the
Communist Party.
 In 2018, The Guardian
reported that Czech Prime
Minister Andrej Babiš, has
offered to restore
Kundera’s citizenship
almost 40 years after the
country’s communist
regime stripped him of it.
 The story was written in 1980s Europe. Due to the censorship of the Czech
Government, some of Kundera’s books have been banned and remained banned until
1989 following the downfall of the Velvet Revolution.
 Kundera framed the story with Nietzsche’s concept of eternal recurrence.
 The book was turned into a film in 1988 featuring Daniel Day Lewis as Tomas and
Juliette Binoche as Tereza.
 The story is set Prague, Czechoslovakia, and various European nations in the ’60s
and ‘70s. One of the main events in this story is that of Russia’s invasion to
Czechoslovakia.
 The story ended in rural Europe where Tereza and Tomas found peace, or what is
known to be ‘being’.
 The story, I think, relies on the setting of Europe. It makes sense that they’re all
European in that I don’t think
 The plot is not linear. It’s not linear in a sense that, I think, Kundera is narrating the
story through the eyes of all four major characters.
 However, I don’t think the plot is the most important part of the book in that at a basic
level it tells a story of four people with different fates.
 The story itself does not rely on the plot but rather uses the characters to embody a
certain philosophy.
 This part establishes the characters of Tomas and Tereza.
 Although Tomas loves Tereza, he cannot leave his other world that is filled with his
mistresses.
 Tomas gets in trouble because of the political turmoil in Prague. The Communists
were against one his works. He is offered refuge in Zurich as well as a job post there
but rejects the offer for Tereza.
 Tomas and Sabina have continue their affair in Zurich. Eventually, Tomas finds a letter
from Tereza that she’ll be going home to Prague. Tomas eventually goes home to
Prague because he can’t last without Tereza.
 This part highlights the events in Tereza’s childhood that led her to become the
woman she is today. It specifically highlights her mother.
 Tereza also meets Sabina here. She has been having nightmares about a studio
where Tomas makes love with his mistresses. However, She does not realise that the
studio was Sabina’s. They eventually befriend each other.
 This section discusses Franz and Sabina’s affair.
 True to the title, the section also defines some words that seem to be words that are
misunderstood; presumably that of Franz and Sabina in their affair.
 The words are Woman, Fidelity and Betrayal, Music, Lightness and Darkness, New
York, Sabina’s country, Cemetery, The Old Church in Amsterdam, Strength, Living in
Truth.
 This is where the affair was also revealed; by Franz himself.
 Franz also criticizes Europe a lot in this section.
 This section goes back to Tereza and Tomas’ life in Prague.
 The two don’t meet that much often and only have breakfast together. Tomas is busy
with work as well as listening to a show which plays secret recordings of dissidents
discussing their plans.
 Tereza tries to flirt with other men here. She meets an engineer here after an elderly
man accused her of serving a minor alcohol. In her dreams, Tereza asks help from
Tomas on how to be light, which she then uses to flirt with the engineer.
 Tereza also realizes that the Russians are using the photos she and other
photojournalists took for the invasion of Prague.
 This part is tricky though because the distinction between dreams and reality is
unclear.
 In this section, we understand why Tomas was in trouble with the Communists. Tomas
wrote an article, using the tragedy of Oedipus as a comparison to the Communists.
 Tomas refuses to sign a retraction notice for the Oedipus article. He loses his job and
finds another one as a GP.
 Tomas is then approached by the Ministry of the Interior asking him to sign an affidavit
stating that the editors only used him for the Oedipus article.
 This section also highlights Tomas’ serial womanizing ways.
 Tomas also meets two dissidents who want him to support a push calling for the stop
of the rough treatment of other dissidents.
 Tomas also becomes more serious in this section; acting more on principle.
 The section opens with the story of Joseph Stalin’s son, Yakov.
 The section also discusses the state of Europe.
 Franz, who is still living happily in Geneva with his mistress, was invited to Cambodia
for the Grand March.
 Tomas son, Simon, moves to another country and becomes a Catholic. Tomas and
Tereza are killed in a car crash in this section.
 After Tomas and Tereza’s deaths, Simon writes to Sabina. Sabina now lives in
California
 Franz is also killed in Cambodia during a robbery.
 This section happens before the death of Tomas and Tereza. They are seen here as
living a happy and content life, far from the political turmoil of Europe.
 Karenin develops cancer. Tomas and Tereza eventually put it to rest and bury it.
 Tereza reflects and thinks she loves Karenin more than Tomas.
 Tereza also has nightmares about Tomas being shot and her returning to her home in
Prague.
 There is no clear climax of the story but rather the four characters themselves have
conflicts that is considered a burden on their individual lives.
 Tereza – Tomas’ wife and a photojournalist.
 Tomas – A serial womaniser who is in love with Tereza. He
keeps telling himself that despite all of his mistresses, he
loves Tereza unconditionally.
 Sabina – Tomas’ favourite mistress. She’s having a hard time finding herself as an
artist.
 Franz - Sabina’s lover. He’s passionate about academic pursuits and joining protests
and marches. He was injured during a robbery in a protest he attended.
 Karenin – A dog named after Anna Karenina. The dog was diagnosed with a rare
cancer and dies. It seems like her death pushed Tomas and Tereza closer together.
 Marie Claude – Franz’ wife.
 The engineer
 The dissidents.
 Tomas’ boss
 The representative from the Ministry of the Interior
 The work was first published in French since it was banned from Czechoslovakia. It
was later translated to Czech as well.
 Since the work is very philosophical, it has a lot of really long declarative sentences.
The story itself is slow paced. It’s like being stuck in traffic; nothing’s really happening
but one’s mind is racing 100mph, filled with thoughts.
 It’s as if the narrator is both narrating a story and talking with the reader at the same
time.
Fulfillment
Love
Compassion
 I feel like with the novel being so philosophical, it’s sort of distances
itself from readers who aren’t really interested in philosophy that much.
 With the narration, it’s both a lapse and not a lapse in that I feel like the
constant description of the characters’ thought process is distracting but
at the same time it is what helps the readers come to the realization of
the philosophy being highlighted by each character.
 I also feel that the numerous sex scenes in the novel were distracting.
As a reader, I look for movement in the plot. There is already little
movement in the novel and it’s constantly distracted by both internal
dialogue and the sex scenes.