![]() The personal lives of the characters are aligned and juxtaposed to the wider political drama in Czechoslovakia. ![]() As accurately reflected in its grand title it is the philosophical musings (rather than the plot) that make up the force of the novel. The novel tells the story of a group of romantically involved intellectuals and artists in Czechoslovakia during the period of Prague Spring in 1968. The news brings me back to Kundera’s most influential work, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, to see how it can still speak to a reader today. But he has recently regained his native citizenship, and been awarded the prestigious Czech literary award – the Franz Kafka prize. ![]() Kundera spent his life and career in exile. The book will persuade you of the insignificance of your individual existence whilst also managing to feature a dog as one of the central characters. ![]() ![]() Milan Kundera’s novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984) offers the same philosophical musings but with significantly less deaths. Many turned to works that would speak to the current situation, reflected in a surge of sales about fictional pandemics, such as Albert Camus’ The Plague. With its recurring lockdowns and periods of isolation, 2020 has been a year of intense philosophical reflection. ![]()
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