Milan Kundera Known and Unknown
Multidimensional Analysis of Selected Works
- 288 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
This collection of essays offers crucial and luminous insights into one of the best-known Czech authors, Milan Kundera, including his lesser known works. With essays that focus on Kundera's poetry and plays, his last four novels written in French, and his nonfiction writings on the novelistic form and translation, Milan Kundera Known and Unknown explores the complex and productive career of this globally recognized author. The approach begins by examining Kundera's distinctive literary style, and then how his voice radiated outward from the small communist country of Czechoslovakia to the world. Starting as a poet and playwright, Kundera transcended the Czech literary scene and rose to global prominence with his novelistic style of variations, paradoxes, humor, and clairvoyance into human relationships mixed with political tensions. His multi-dimensional existential topics introduced complex novelistic characters that have reached a large audience and remain evocative. Kundera also critically commented on creative works – his own and of others – thus contributing a unique approach to a specific aesthetic ideal and within the masterworks of world-renowned authors. Chapters on Kundera's aesthetics and form, his philosophical leanings, his relationship to the burgeoning concept of "world literature, " and translations of his writings offer new perspectives on his life's work. These insights shed light on Kundera's understudied works, such as his early poetry and his recent French novels, making connections between his early and later writing, and cementing his literary legacy for English-language audiences.
Frequently asked questions
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Milan Kundera’s Multidimensionality and Interdisciplinarity Karen von Kunes
- PART 1 Kundera Known in World Literature: From the Art of the Novel to the Art of Immortality
- PART 2 Kundera Known through Translation: Life Struggle with Retranslating
- PART 3 Kundera Known: Exophonic Writer, French Essayist, and Novelist
- PART 4 Kundera Unknown: His Ideological Poetry, His Drama, and TV Plays
- Afterword: Milan Kundera and the Reinvention of Central Europe Jacques Rupnik, translated from the French by Constance Sherak
- Notes on Contributors
- Notes on Translators
- Index