All of Kundera’s novels and essays except The Festival of Insignificancewill be published in two volumes at the Pléiade, with a foreword and biographies of the works of François Ricard. Selected Pieces.
The first part of the late writer’s work is written in Czech. With slowness (1995) he writes directly in French and reworks the translation of most of his first texts.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Gallimard, folio)
Published 1984, translated from Czech by François Kérel.
In Prague in 1968, in the context of the Prague Spring and the USSR’s invasion of the country, Tomas vacillates between two loves: Tereza, who wants pure love, and Sabina, who prefers physical love. Western lightness contrasts with heavy Eastern seriousness, kitsch throws a veil over ugliness.
The Book of Laughing and Forgetting (Gallimard, folio)
Released 1979, Translated from Czech by François Kérel.
A novel in the form of variations about the fate of the emigrant Tamina, who herself is searching for the lost memories of her deceased husband. These approaches surround the city of Prague, Bohemia, the Czechs.
also read“The Kidnapped West”: When Milan Kundera reminded Europeans of the importance of their cultural heritage
L’ignorance (Gallimard, folio)
Published in 2003, written directly in French.
customer contradicts the assertion that man can only be certain of the present moment: without knowing the future, how can we actually understand and make sense of the actualized present? A philosophical novel about nostalgia in which Irena and Joseph, originally from Bohemia, return to their country after the fall of Communism.
The Slow One (Gallimard, folio)
Published in 1995, written directly in French.
The novel takes place in a castle where Vera and Milan spend the night and where an entomology colloquium takes place. But it is in the very château where Vivan Denon, a free-spirited 18th-century writer, unfolds his story. Kundera is only a casual observer, and it is Denon’s story that provides him with a springboard for disillusioned reflections on the colloquium’s minor dramas. It is in this book that resonates with another, To kidthat this dialogue is found: “You have often told me that one day you would like to write a novel in which no words would be serious.” A great stupidity for your amusement. I’m afraid the time has come. I just want to warn you: be careful. »
I bow my head even lower.
“Remember what your mother used to tell you? I hear his voice like it was yesterday: Milanku, stop joking. Nobody will understand you. You will offend everyone and in the end everyone will hate you. Do you remember ?
– Yes, I say.
– I warn you. Sincerity protected you. The lack of sincerity will leave you naked in front of the wolves. And you know that they are waiting for you, the wolves. »
also readMathieu Laine: “The slowness of Kundera and the incredible delay in vaccination in France”
The Joke (Gallimard, folio)
Published 1967, translation from Czech by Marcel Aymonin, fully revised by Claude Courtot and the author, final version.
Ludvik Jahn, back in his hometown, remembers a momentous episode in his student days. He is expelled from college and drafted into the army for writing a political joke on a postcard. Jaroslav, his best friend, and Helena, the recipient of the mail, are the other narrators of the story.
Laughable Loves (Gallimard, folio)
Collection of short stories, first published in 1970, then reprinted, translation from Czech by François Kérel, revised by the author.
A collection of seven short stories on the themes of love, fidelity, identity, being and being enlightened with a clear and disillusioned view of society. According to the author, it represents a kind of laboratory for his first novels.
