Kundera

[Ginger]

Hi everyone! :) Im a newbie here, and very happy to have discovered this site :)
I have read "The Unbearable lightness of being" by Milan Kundera recently and thought it was one of the best books I've ever laid my hands on. Its hard to describe the book, but it evoked so many feelings and imagery.
What do you think of it?

[Azoic]

Hi Ginger, Welcome.

I can't say I've ever read "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," although I've never heard an ill word spoken of it.

[Koa]

I haven't read it yet, but I've been convinced for years that it was an Indian writer.... I feel so silly... the name sounded Indian to me... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[azmuse]

no but have you read The Invitation i forget who wrote it but the poem she prefaced the book with was just gorgeous

[leonthepupil]

Oh Milan Kundera was once so popular in China....
He is originally Czech but now lives in France...
i have read a lot of his books :" the unbearable lightness of being","Joke","Farewell Party"etc...
i was very impressed about what he described in his book..some are irony but just like around me..

[Jay]

Confirmative Leon, even though I haven't read his books. Just that the lit teacher was mooning over him SO damn much I was kinda discouraged of reading a book of his...

[den]

Egads, Kundera must be the most over-rated writer in the last 20 years... The UNbearable Triteness of Being is laborious and cloying revisionist `romance'.

His `Identity' also horrible, totally boring from the get-go, stylistically chopped and hackneyed, and this may be because of translation issues...

You want to read a great Czech author who's got style and character? I can't think of anyone he's similar to ...
Bohumil Hrabal... `Total Fears' is a good start. ;)

[leonthepupil]

Kundera must be the most over-rated writer in the last 20 years...

I guess our difference of appreciating Kundera originates from the idea we try to draw from his books.I find he is far more popular in China than in the western world.His books were intorduced to China in 1980s or early 1990s.Maybe the translator think more of its political meaning.Kundera's writing of the eastern european life and the political circumstance fascinates his Chinese readers.I think that's why his books archieve such a great success even nowadays.

Frankly, i read Kundera's books in Chinese and was not doing much text analysis about it. so i guess they have such problems den just mentioned.
But i'm afraid his books are not so popular in English world just because its content are not familiar to the English readers.

[leonthepupil]

Hey,Jay,i guess you can get much more from his books than me...as you can read it in your own language!
:o)