Ne yapacağını bilemeden bir avlunun karşı tarafındaki duvara dalıp gitmek; bir aşk anında karnındaki inatçı gurultuya kulak vermek; ihanet etmek; ihanetin göz kamaştırıcı yolunu terk ederek gücü kendinde bulamamak; Büyük Yürüyüş´te kalabalıklarla birlikte yumruğunu havaya kaldırmak; gizlenmiş mikrofonlar önünde espri gösterisi yapmak-bu durumların hepsini tanıdım, hepsini yaşadım...

Romanlarımdaki kişiler kendime ilişkin gerçekleşmemiş olabilirliklerdir... Her biri benim ancak kenarında dolaştığım bir sınırı aşmıştır... Çünkü romanın sorguladığı sır o sınırın ötesinde başlar. Roman yazarın itirafları değildir; bir tuzak haline gelmiş dünyamızda yaşanan insan hayatının araştırılmasıdır.

Milan Kundera (Arka Kapaktan)

Wydana po raz pierwszy w 1984 roku „Nieznośna lekkość bytu” jest najsłynniejszą powieścią Milana Kundery oraz swego rodzaju ukoronowaniem jego twórczości.

Zbiegają się w niej wszystkie tematy, do których pisarz w swojej twórczości nieustannie powraca. Splot życiorysów kilku postaci (i psa), które na różne sposoby dochodzą do wniosku, że jedynym, co zostaje im dane jest właśnie tytułowa lekkość. Głównym problemem, który interesuje Kunderę w tej książce jest kwestia przypadku jako czynnika, który determinuje ludzkie losy. Miłość jest przypadkiem. To przypadek decyduje, że zakochujemy się właśnie w tej, a nie w innej osobie. Przypadek decyduje również o tym, czym zajmujemy się przez całe życie, kim jesteśmy, z jakimi ludźmi się stykamy. W epoce totalitaryzmu zaś czynnik losowy jest tym bardziej paradoksalny, im bardziej wszechwładny ustrój stara się go wyeliminować i narzucić obywatelom sztuczne ograniczenia. Pomiędzy tymi dwoma żywiołami – prawdziwym i wymyślonym – poszczególne biografie wirują jak folia na wietrze.

Sposób w jaki napisana jest „Nieznośna lekkość bytu” doskonale koresponduje z tematem - napisana jest lekko, pozornie chaotycznie. Wypełniona stwierdzeniami o charakterze ogólnym, których nie można traktować inaczej niż jako stwierdzenia właściwie nieważne.

„Wtedy, w Paryżu, Milan dał mi rękopis »Nieznośnej lekkości bytu«. Przeczytałam go z ogromnym przejęciem. Nie tylko przypomniało mi to moje doświadczenia z Pragi w 1968 roku, ale jakoś niebywale korespondowało z emigracją i polskim Sierpniem. Wydawało mi się, że w tej powieści zawarta jest suma doświadczeń, które mogą być cenne dla polskiego czytelnika, i spytałam Kunderę, czy zgodzi się, bym przetłumaczyła powieść na polski. Zgodził się z entuzjazmem, a potem bardzo uważnie przeczytał przekład, chociaż polskiego nie zna, więc nie mógł ocenić jego jakości”.
– Agnieszka Holland, Newsweek

Analyse : Roman philosophique

edition part of the Piccola Biblioteca collection by Adelphi

Nos anos 60 em Praga, Tchecoslováquia, Tomas é um médico totalmente apolítico, que tem como hobby ter diversas parceiras sexuais, mas evitando sempre um maior envolvimento. Mas duas mulheres: Sabina, uma artista plástica, e Tereza, uma empregada de mesa, que sonha em ser fotógrafa, vão estar muito presentes na sua vida. Mas ao serem atingidos pelos acontecimentos de 1968, conhecido como "A Primavera de Praga", quando tanques soviéticos invadiram a capital tcheca para pôr fim a uma série de protestos, a vida deste triângulo amoroso é afectada, pois os seus sonhos são destruídos e as suas vidas mudam para sempre.

"Qu'est-il resté des agonisants du Cambodge?
Une grande photo de la star américaine tenant dans ses bras un enfant jaune.
Qu'est-il resté de Tomas?
Une inscription:Il voulait le Royaume de Dieu sur la terre.
Qu'est-il resté de Beethoven?
Un homme morose à l'invraisemblable crinière,qui prononce d'une voix sombre:"Es muss sein!"
Qu'est-il resté de Franz?
Une inscription:Après un long égarement,le retour.
Et ainsi de suite,et ainsi de suite.Avant d'être oubliés,nous serons changés en kitsch.Le kitsch,c'est la station de correspondance entre l'être et l'oubli.

Em 1972, o jovem encenador francês Georges Werler encontrou-se com Milan Kundera em Praga e trouxe clandestinamente para Paris o manuscrito de Jacques e o seu Amo. Kundera havia escrito a peça após a invasão russa, quando toda a sua obra, passada e futura, fôra, riscada das letras checas.
Foi o seu velho amor por Jacques le Fataliste que inspirou a Kundera este "divertimento no tempo da peste", esta libérrima "Variação sobre Diderot". A peça nada tem de lição filosófica; o que nela se exalta é o prazer da invenção, o humor e o racionalismo lúdico de Diderot, a sua extraordinária liberdade formal que, segundo Kundera, jamais encontrou paralelo na evolução da história do romance.
Na época em que Praga viveu o seu "fim do Ocidente", Kundera saboreou essa estonteante liberdade de Diderot como quem saboreia um valor condenado e sem futuro. Hoje, quase trinta anos depois, Jacques e o seu Amo permanece como uma espantosa peça literária, à altura dos melhores romances do seu autor.

Publicado pela primeira vez no Brasil em 2001, este livro de contos de Milan Kundera mostra como o autoengano governa quase todos os aspectos da vida.

Um homem diz que crê em Deus para conquistar uma garota e acaba descobrindo as virtudes da devoção a um deus que ele sabe inexistente. Namorados fingem que não se conhecem, e aos poucos percebem como são, de fato, dois estranhos. Um mentiroso hábil brinca com as pessoas, mas elas são tão crédulas que ele perde o controle da situação.
Nos sete contos de Risíveis amores, publicados pela primeira vez no Brasil em 2001, Milan Kundera retira do amor e do sexo a seriedade que costuma recobri-los. As situações se desenvolvem a partir de um mal-entendido, de um jogo com o outro. A mentira - ou a a arte de iludir e ser iludido - está sempre em foco. Mas o engano, que se inicia pela brincadeira, revela como o autoengano governa todos os aspectos da vida.
Não são apenas histórias de amor que fazem rir. São, também, histórias sobre tentativas de repor alguma verdade à experiência amorosa.

«¿Debo acaso insistir en que no tengo la más mínima ambición teórica y que este libro no es sino la confesión de un "practicante" ? La obra de cada novelista contiene una visión implícita de la historia de la novela, una idea de lo que es la novela : es esta idea de la novela, inherente a mis novelas, la que he procurado dejar hablar.»

En estos siete textos relativamente independientes, pero vinculados en un único ensayo, Milan Kundera expone su concepción personal de la novela europea («arte nacido de la risa de Dios»). ¿Está su historia en vías de terminarse ? El caso es que hoy, en la época de las «paradojas terminales», la novela «ya no puede vivir en paz con el espíritu de nuestro tiempo : si aún quiere ‘progresar’ en tanto que la novela, no puede sino hacerlo en contra del progreso del mundo».

Uno de los textos está dedicado a Hermann Broch, otro a Franz Kafka, y, desde la primera hasta la última línea, la reflexión de Kundera es una constante referencia a los autores que constituyen los pilares de su «historia personal de la novela» : Rabelais, Cervantes, Sterne, Diderot, Flaubert, Tolstoi, Musil, Gombrowicz. En dos diálogos, el autor habla de su propio arte (arte en el sentido casi artesanal de la palabra), de las distintas maneras de crear un «ego experimental» (personaje), de la polifonía, de la composición…

“Far more than a conventional novel. It is a meditation on life, on the erotic, on the nature of men and women and love . . . full of telling details, truths large and small, to which just about every reader will respond.” — PeopleIn The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera tells the story of two couples, a young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing, and one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover. In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. Hence, we feel "the unbearable lightness of being" not only as the consequence of our pristine actions but also in the public sphere, and the two inevitably intertwine.This magnificent novel is a story of passion and politics, infidelity and ideas, and encompasses the extremes of comedy and tragedy, illuminating all aspects of human existence.

A chance encounter leads a man to spend the afternoon with an older woman, now a widow, who escaped him fifteen years earlier. Neither of them doubts that the day will end in disgust, but for one intimate moment each finds a way to overcome mortality.
Written in 1969, before Milan Kundera was known to English-speaking readers, this story renders male and female characters painful equals, and prompted Philip Roth to admire its ‘detached Chekhovian tenderness’.

Two tales of seduction, separated by more than two hundred years, interweave and oscillate between the sublime and the comic in this, Milan Kundera's lightest novel. In the 18th century, the marvelous Madame de T. summons a young nobleman to her chamber and gives him an unforgettable lesson in the art of seduction and the pleasures of love. In the same chat at the end of the 20th century, a hapless intellectual experiences a rather less successful night. Distracted by his desire to be the center of attention at a convention of entomologists, Vincent misses the opportunity to be with a beautiful stranger and suffers the ridicule of his peers. A "morning-after" encounter between the two men brings the novel to a poignant close and provides a unique insight into the different mind-sets of the two centuries. As Vincent prepares to speed off on his motorcycle, he has already obliterated the memory of his humiliation. The young nobleman, on the other hand, relives the delicious pleasures of the night as he lies back on the cushions of his carriage. Ruminating on how the pleasures of slowness have disappeared in today's fast-paced, future-shocked world, Kundera explores the secret bond between slowness and memory and the connection between our era's desire to forget and the way we have given ourselves over to the demon of speed. As provocative as it is entertaining, "Slowness" is Kundera in top form.

"A short collection of brilliant early essays that offers a fascinating context for the Milan Kundera's subsequent career and holds a mirror to much recent European history. It is also remarkably prescient with regard to Russia's current aggression in Ukraine and its threat to the rest of Europe"--Publisher's description.

The people of Central Europe cannot be separated from European history; they cannot exist outside it; but they represent the wrong side of this history; they are its victims and outsiders.
In a moment of historic peril and uncertainty in mainland Europe, Milan Kundera makes the case for Central Europe as the nucleus of European values and as a lightning rod for its potential dangers.
For the countries that make up this region where democracy is under continued threat from Russian oppression, language and culture play an active role in affirming national identity. And each of these countries - Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia - has been historically overlooked by the major powers of Western Europe. But Kundera cautions that this blindness puts Europe's cultural and political independence at risk, a warning that feels increasingly relevant to our current moment, and our future.

A short collection of brilliant early essays that offers a fascinating context for the Milan Kundera's subsequent career and holds a mirror to much recent European history. It is also remarkably prescient with regard to Russia's current aggression in Ukraine and its threat to the rest of Europe.
Milan Kundera's early nonfiction work feels especially resonant in our own time. In these pieces, Kundera pleads the case of the "small nations" of Europe who, by culture, are Western with deep roots in Europe, despite Russia imposing its own Communist political regimes in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Ukraine, and elsewhere. Kundera warns that the real tragedy here is not Russia but Europe, whose own identity and culture are directly challenged and threatened in a way that could lead to their destruction. He is sounding the alarm, which chimes loud and clear in our own twenty-first century.
The 1983 essay translated by Edmund White ("The Tragedy of Central Europe"), and the 1967 lecture delivered to the Czech Writers' Union in the middle of the Prague Spring by the young Milan Kundera ("Literature and the Small Nations"), translated for the first time by Linda Asher, are both written in a voice that is at once personal, vehement, and anguished. Here, Kundera appears already as one of our great European writers and truly our contemporary. Each piece is prefaced by a short presentation by French historian Pierre Nora and Czech-born French political scientist Jacques Rupnik.