The Unbearable Lightness of Being
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The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Czech language: Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí) is a novel written by Milan Kundera in 1984. Set in 1968 Prague, the novel deals heavily with philosophical concepts. The novel depicts life for artists and intellectuals in Czechoslovakia after the USSR invaded the country following the Prague Spring. The story's main character is Tomas, a famous surgeon, who criticizes the Czech Communists and as a result loses his position. Other important characters (Kundera's Quartet) are his wife, Tereza (a photographer), his lover Sabina (a painter), and Sabina's lover Franz (a university professor).
According to Kundera, "being" is full of "unbearable lightness" because each of us has only one life to live: "Einmal ist Keinmal" ("once is never", i.e., "what happened once might as well have never happened at all"). Therefore, each life is ultimately insignificant; every decision ultimately does not matter. Since decisions do not matter, they are "light": they do not tie us down. But at the same time, the insignificance of our decisions - our lives, or being - is unbearable. Hence, "the unbearable lightness of being."
A paperback edition was reprinted in New York by Perennial in 1999 with ISBN 0060932139.
In 1988, an American-made film came out based on the novel. Directed by Philip Kaufman, it starred Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, and Lena Olin. The movie was moderately successful in North America and much more so in Europe. It should be noted that Kundera considers his novels unsuited to being turned into movies; in his opinion, they lose their essential qualities in the process, leaving only the accessory stories to produce any intrigue. However, Kundera served as an active (but uncredited) consultant during the making of the film. In fact, the poem Tomas whispers into Tereza's ear as she is falling asleep was written specifically for the film by Kundera.
Since the 1999 re-publication, the novel has become extremely popular among Generation X and Y. Quotes from the novel have inspired the titles of two popular artistic works by 20-somethings: Jonathan Safran Foer's novel Everything Is Illuminated (from the quote: "In the sunset of dissolution, everything is illuminated by the aura of nostalgia, even the guillotine") as well as Regina Spektor's debut album Soviet Kitsch, which refers in Kundera's book to the impractical romantic ideals of communism. The novel is also referenced in the Bright Eyes song, "Tereza And Tomas."
The book has never been published in Czechoslovakia or the Czech Republic (of course after the Velvet Revolution), because Kundera hasn't approved it.
See also
- Lightness
- Prague Spring
- Re. Film:
- * Philip Kaufman (director)
- * Juliette Binoche (her breakthrough role)
- * Lena Olin (her breakthrough role in America)
- * Film music: Leoš Janáček
External links
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