Milan Kundera, reclusive literary giant and author of ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being,’ dies
Milan Kundera, the Czech writer who became one of the 20th century’s most influential novelists but spent much of his life in seclusion, rarely engaging with the public, died in Paris on Tuesday, according to the Moravian Library in Brno. He was 94.
“Milan Kundera, a Czech-French author who is among the world’s most translated authors, died on July 11, 2023 in his Paris apartment,” the library, a state-funded research organization, said in a statement.
The author of “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” Kundera was known for his witty, tragicomic tales, which were often intertwined with deep philosophical debates and satirical portrayals of life under communist oppression.
Born in April 1929 in Brno, Czechoslovakia, Kundera was part of an influential generation of Czech writers, film makers and intellectuals who came of age during the turbulent post-World War II years.
As a successful writer and a sought-after academic, he became an influential critical voice within the party during the period of liberalization in the late 1960s that became known as the Prague Spring. It was during this era that his first novel, “The Joke,” was published.
That book – a deeply satirical look at revenge set in the totalitarian country – became a bestseller at home and around the world. And it was this book, and Kundera’s activities during the Prague Spring, that later cost him nearly everything he held dear.
Exile in Paris
He spent the rest of his life in exile in Paris, becoming a French citizen in 1981.
It was in Paris that Kundera’s literary career truly blossomed, with the publication of his three most acclaimed works, “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting,” “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” and “Immortality.”
A believer in the power of the novel, a genre he said should be recognized as its own art form, Kundera gradually became more and more protective of his work.
He scrutinized translations of his work and banned all adaptation of his books following the 1988 film based on “The Unbearable Lightness of Being.” Kundera served as a consultant on the movie, starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Juliette Binoche, but later said the picture had little in common with the spirit of the book.
“Immortality” was the last novel he wrote in his native Czech language before switching to French – a move that underlined Kundera’s complicated relationship with his homeland following his exile.
He returned rarely and when he did, he traveled incognito, booking into hotels under a pseudonym. While his Czech citizenship was restored in 2019, he was by then a French author whose home was in France.
Kundera always rejected the idea that his work was inspired by his own life experiences, a claim that was heavily scrutinized in 2008 when the Czech weekly newspaper Respekt published an article accusing the acclaimed author of acting as a communist police informant in 1950.
Kundera, having spent more than two decades living in seclusion and declining to do interviews, took the unusual step of speaking up. He strongly denied the accusation, calling it “the assassination of an author.”
He was defended by many high-profile Czech and international writers, including the former Czech President and playwright Vaclav Havel.
Nonetheless, the episode left an uncomfortable question mark over the true inspiration for some of Kundera’s most acclaimed novels, many of which revolve around the themes of disillusionment, responsibility, guilt and denunciation.
生词记录
Czech 捷克的
seclusion 隐居，与世隔绝，退隐
witty 风趣的，诙谐的，巧妙的，机智的
tragicomic 悲喜剧的
tale 历险记，故事
intertwine 交织，缠结
satirical 讽刺的，讥讽的
intellectual 知识分子，脑力劳动者
turbulent 动荡的，骚乱的
sought-after 广受欢迎的，热门的
revenge 复仇
acclaimed 广受欢迎的，备受推崇的
immortality 不朽，永生
genre 体裁，类型，风格
scrutinize 仔细检查
underline 下划线，强调
incognito 隐姓埋名地
pseudonym 假名，笔名
informant 线人，告密者，举报者
assassination 暗杀
high-profile 惹人注目，高姿态
playwright 剧作家
episode 一节，片段，一集
a question mark over sth 有关···的不确定性
revolve 旋转，转动，围绕
disillusionment 幻想破灭，醒悟
denunciation 谴责，公开批评；检举，告发
