Milan Kundera

Born April 1, 1929 · Died July 11, 2023

From Královo Pole, South Moravian Region, Czech Republic · Nationality: France, Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia, statelessness · Writes fiction and nonfiction

Milan Kundera (1. dubna 1929 Brno – 11. července 2023 Paříž) byl česko-francouzský spisovatel. Od roku 1975 žil ve Francii, v roce 1979 byl zbaven československého státního občanství, roku 1981 získal občanství francouzské a v roce 2019 mu bylo vráceno občanství české.

Quotes

“Suspending moral judgment is not the immorality of the novel; it is its morality. The morality that stands against the ineradicable human habit of judging instantly, ceaselessly, and everyone; of judging before, and in the absence of, understanding.”
p. 7
“Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent.”
p. 8
“A question is like a knife that slices through the stage backdrop and gives us a look at what lies hidden behind it.”
Part Six: The Grand March, Chapter 11
“Kitsch causes two tears to flow in quick succession. The first tear says: How nice to see children running on the grass! The second tear says: How nice to be moved, together with all mankind, by children running on the grass!”
Part Six: The Grand March, Chapter 8
“Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost.”
Part Five: Lightness and Weight, Chapter 23

Quotes from Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Books by Milan Kundera in order

Books by Milan Kundera in the order they were published, from Laughable Loves (1963) to La insoportable levedad del ser (2019).

If you like Milan Kundera

Authors readers of Milan Kundera often like, from our AI-written notes

Bohumil HrabalAnother Czech writer of the same era who used humour and an informal narrative voice to write about ordinary life under Communist rule. Readers of Kundera's Czech books often move to Hrabal's Closely Watched Trains or I Served the King of E
Franz KafkaKundera wrote essays on Kafka and draws on his themes of bureaucracy, guilt and the absurd. Readers interested in the Czech context of Kundera's work often read The Trial or The Castle.
Witold GombrowiczAnother central European novelist who wrote about identity, form and the self in a playful, self-aware style. Readers of Kundera's essay-novels often like Ferdydurke or Pornografia.
Robert MusilA novelist who combined fiction with long reflections on ideas and society. The Man Without Qualities is a long, essayistic novel that appeals to readers of Kundera's novels of ideas.
Italo CalvinoCalvino writes short, precise fiction full of ideas about form, lightness and the nature of stories. Readers who like Slowness or The Festival of Insignificance may enjoy Invisible Cities or If on a winter's night a traveler.
Philip RothRoth wrote novels about sexuality, public image and the self in conversation with history. Readers of The Unbearable Lightness of Being often compare his treatment of personal life and public history.