The celebrated Czech-born author Milan Kundera turns ninety on April 1st.
True to form, the reclusive writer – who hasn’t granted an interview in
decades – has insisted his publishers ignore the milestone. But the
literary world cannot help but take stock of Kundera’s enduring legacy.
Milan Kundera, a French citizen since 1981 – and arguably a French writer
for even longer– was born in the Moravian capital of Brno, where his
father, a musicologist, led the Janáček Music Academy. He is said to have
often
returned from Paris to his home town – strictly incognito – to take in
a
Brno Kometa hockey match and visit a handful of lifelong friends.
But what the wider world knows of Milan Kundera – the man himself, how
his thinking has evolved – comes through his writing. Though he joined
the Communist
party in 1948 while in his teens, clearly by 1967, when his novel The Joke
was published, he had little respect for the regime. Ever since, Kundera
was regarded as “subversive” writer, though we know he never saw
himself as a “dissident” one.
Decades ago, before he stopped giving interviews, Kundera said his work is
“subversive” in that it raises questions of moral and social
uncertainty, anathema to the ideological faithful of any stripe –
Communist, Christian, what have you.
Charles University professor of literature Petr Bílek explains.
“He always presses the role of the text and not the role of the
theological human being who produces the text. So, it’s not that
important how we label Milan Kundera as a person, but how we approach his
texts. And here, I think the term ‘subversive’ is the key. ... [mehr] https://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/acclaimed-czech-born-author-and-essayist-milan-kundera-still-an-enigma-at-90
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