Academic literature on the topic 'Kundera'

A discreet apology of old agein the works of Milan KunderaIn the essay, the titular problem of old age is related to the great literary canon, within which the history of novel is established and developed. The canon itself, in terms of H. Bloom, means a perpetual and creative source of struggle against the literary traditions’ influence, which is also to shape Kundera’s novels and essays. Thus the old age is conceived as abroad metaphor consisting of the great works of the great precursors, who invented us along with our modern world. Furthermore, Kundera allows his readers to associate the old age motif with awide range of often opposite properties alike slowness, carefulness, lightness, triviality, laughter, transparence, non-presence, or non-essence, etc. These properties are rendered by aseries of the writer’s favorite figures, to which belong: irony, ellipsis, and litotes that are to determine the central motif of vis comica inherited by Kundera from his masters, Cervantes, Rabelais, Diderot, and Sterne.Diskrétní apologie stáří v díle Milana Kundery V článku je problematika stáří konfrontována s evropským literárním kánonem, který obsahuje avytváří dějiny evropského románu. Tento kánon, v souladu s teorií Harolda Blooma, tvoří nekonečný tvůrčí zdroj boje s literární tradicí, boje, který se rovněž zrcadlí v románech Milana Kundery. V jeho díle je stáří zobrazeno jako široce chápaná metafora děl velkých spisovatelů, kteří jsou zodpovědni za obraz současného světa. Kundera pracuje s motivem stáří asrovnává ho s celou škálou témat, která ho zajímají, tzn. s retardací, opatrností, lehkostí, triviálností, humorem, průhledností, nepřítomostí, bezvýznamností apod. K zobrazení těchto témat využívá své oblíbené figury: ironii, elipsu alitotésu, které determinují problematiku vis comica, přejatou od oblíbených předchůdců. Jsou mezi nimi Cervantes, Rabelais, Diderot aSterne.

Milan Kundera, a Czech émigré writer, living in Paris and now writing in French, is (in)famous for his tight and obsessive authorial control. He has said many times that he did not trust translators to translate his works accurately and faithfully. The various translations of his novel Žert (The Joke) exemplify this point. The novel has been translated into English, French, and many other languages more than once, depending on Kundera’s dissatisfaction with a particular translation (which, at first, he would support). Thus, there followed a cascade of translations (namely in French and English) as Kundera would eventually become dissatisfied even with the latest “definitive” translated version. As he famously says in an interview regarding the 1968 French translation of Žert, “rage seized me”. From then on, Kundera showed displeasure at any translator who, however briefly, would impersonate the author and take some license in translating Kundera’s work. Further, Kundera decided that only his full authorial involvement in the process would ascertain “the same authenticity” of his translations as the original Czech works. Kundera thus becomes the omnipresent, omnipotent author, himself impersonating God controlling his own creation. Finally, Kundera takes extreme measures and translates Žert into French himself. The resulting translation surprised many – editing changes are plentiful but apparent only to those who can compare the original Czech text with Kundera’s own translation. Kundera’s stance is conflicting, as he denies creativity to other translators but as the auto-translator, Kundera freely rewrites, rather than just retranslates, his own works. By exploring the convoluted and complex history of translations of Kundera’s works, I will try to illuminate the reasons behind Kundera’s posture. I will support my discussion by analyzing not only well known Kundera’s statements, but also those less quoted which, as I have discovered, are rather crucial to understanding Kundera’s position.

The interview with Marek Bieńczyk covers, in general, the subject of the philosophy of novel by Milan Kundera and the reception of his works nowadays in Poland and abroad. Marek Bieńczyk – the French translator of Milan Kundera’s novels – talks about the history of his first translations and the beginnings of scientific thinking about Kundera. Moreover, he explains the problems connected with Kundera’s authorial and elaborate philosophy of novel: the conception of narrator, hero and composition. Bieńczyk also narrates his own memories with M. Kundera. What is more, he indicates the inspirations he draws in his own work from innovative prose by Czech novelist, who is celebrating his 91st anniversary this year.

The aim of the study is to offer a slightly different view of Milan Kundera’s prose and to recall the issues of memory and human activities as the subjects of constant interpretation and reinterpretation. Last but not least, the article examines human identity and the freedom of human decision-making. In the study, the theory of cultural oblivion is used as a strategy for building our own identity and subjectivity. Notably, since the 1960s, Kundera has dealt with these issues, which later became the subject of memory studies. Kundera has overtaken the memory boom which was highly popular for some years. Another important issue analysed in the study is the question of responsibility for one’s own deeds, worlds, actions and the issue of the possibility of dialogue between people. All these issues are examined on the basis of Kundera’s novels.

W 2008 roku czeski tygodnik „Respekt” oskarżył pisarza Milana Kunderę (1929–2023) o to, że w latach 50. XX wieku wydał czechosłowackiej bezpiece Miroslava Dvořáčka – młodego współpracownika amerykańskiego kontrwywiadu. Ofiara donosu została skazana na lata ciężkiego więzienia i cudem uniknęła śmierci. Publikacja, która jednoznacznie ogłosiła winę pisarza, powstała na podstawie jednej odnalezionej w archiwum USTR (czeski odpowiednik IPN) notatki milicyjnej, w której wymieniono nazwisko Milana Kundery. Sprawę szeroko omawiały media zarówno w Czechach, jak i na świecie. Także w Polsce rozpętała się burza. Dziś, gdy świat żegna Milana Kunderę, warto wrócić do tamtej publikacji, przyjrzeć się jej formie, językowi i zabiegom stylistycznym, które mocno podważyły reputację znanego pisarza. Ostatecznie Milanowi Kunderze niczego nie udowodniono, a sam pisarz wydał jedynie lakoniczne oświadczenie, w którym wszystkiemu zaprzeczył. Autorzy artykułu koncentrują się na publikacji „Respektu” z 2008 roku: jego formie i rzetelności przekazu. Jaki obraz, jaką rzeczywistość udało się wykreować autorom tego tekstu? Podjęto próbę spojrzenia na wydarzenia z 2008 roku z dzisiejszej perspektywy. Ważne wydaje się pytanie o to, czy teksty rozliczeniowe w ogóle powinny gościć na łamach prasy, czy lepiej, aby były przedmiotem wyłącznie badań i publikacji naukowych? Jeśli o podobnych sprawach powinna dowiadywać się opinia publiczna z prasy codziennej, jakie podstawowe standardy powinna ona spełniać?

Abstract This article examines Georg Brandes’ comparative method and notions of emigrant literature, world literature, and national literature, comparing them to Goethe’s and Milan Kundera’s ideas of world literature, and drawing on Emily Apter’s concept of untranslatability. It is argued that Brandes, like Apter, valorizes an untranslatable dimension of language in his paradoxical notion of world literature as the most national literature, whereas Goethe and Kundera consider translations to be unproblematic as a result of their belief in linguistic transparency. Where Goethe accentuated cultural similarities and universalism, Brandes was keen to stress cultural differences. His cosmopolitanism was firmly rooted in the local, national, and regional. The article further argues that Goethe’s concept of Weltliteratur was centered on a theory of circulation and infrastructure. In contrast, both Brandes and Kundera placed emphasis on intra-literary qualities, Brandes primarily linguistic qualities, Kundera more specifically existential and formal newness. Each of the three positions has its merits and supplement each other. Together, they provide us with an understanding of the significance of the field of world literature as both an aesthetic and sociological phenomenon.

Milan Kundera əsas müasir yazıçılardan biridir. Həyatı kommunizmin əzabına məruz qalan yazıçı Kundera 1970-ci illərin ortalarında Fransaya sığınmaq üçün Çexoslovakiyanı tərk etdi. Unudulmuş fəlsəfə kimi qələmə verilə bilən romanlaın müəllifi hesab olunur: onların hamısı tarix, siyasət, öz taleyi ilə mübarizə aparan fərdləri təsvir edir. Onun personajlarının qarşılaşdığı əsas çətinlik mənanın yaradılmasındadır: Onun varlığına necə məna vermək olar? Milan Kunderanın yaradıcılığında fəlsəfi təhlilə ən çox məruz qalan, şübhəsiz ki, varlığın Dözülməz yüngüllüyüdür.“Varlığın Dözülməz Yüngüllüğü” ilk növbədə 1960-1970-ci illərdə Praqa həyatına həsr olunmuşdur.O, Praqa baharından 1968-ci ildə işğal olunmuş Sovet İttifaqına qədər kommunist dövründə Çex cəmiyyətinin bədii və intellektual həyatını araşdırır. Əsas personajlar Tomasdır həyat yoldaşı Tereza, ərinin xəyanətindən əziyyət çəkən fotoqraf; Sabina, azad ruhlu rəssam Tomasın məşuqəsi; və Sabinaya aşiq isveçrəli akademik Franz.Bu dörd simvolun hər biri metaforik bir fiqurun təcəssümüdür. Tomas qeyri-müəyyənlikdir, həm ər, həm də dəyişkən məşuqdur, başqa sözlə, Kierkegaard kateqoriyalarından, etikadan və estetikadan istifadə etməkdədir. Tereza ərinə sadiq, saf sevgini müdafiə edən əxlaqlı, sadiq arvaddır. Sabina yüngüllükdür, Kunderanın fikrincə müasirliyi müəyyən edən xüsusiyyətdir. Frans, Tereza kimi, cazibə qüvvəsini təmsil edir. Bu xarakter pis bir evlilikdə ilişib qalıb. O, köhnə dünyanı təcəssüm etdirir. Kundera bütün əsərlərində, o cümlədən bu romanında da özünün həyata keçməyən arzularını qələmə alıb və sözdən sirli-sehrli, əfsunlu bir dünya yaradıb.Kunderanın əsərlərində adi bir zarafat bəzən faicəyə gətirib çıxarır. Açar sözlər: varlıq, heçlik, yüngüllük, sevgi, sadiqlik, cazibə, xarakter, yenilik, saflıq, qeyri müəyyənlik, dəyişkənlik Umudova Shams Afgan "A creature with unbearable lightness" by Milan Kundera Abstract Milan Kundera is one of the main contemporary writers. Writer Kundera, whose life was tormented by communism, left Czechoslovakia in the mid-1970s to seek refuge in France. He is considered the author of a novel that can be written as a forgotten philosophy: all of them describe history, politics, individuals struggling with their own destiny. The main difficulty faced by his characters is in creating meaning: How can his existence be given meaning? The most subjected to philosophical analysis in Milan Kundera's work is undoubtedly the Unbearable Lightness of Being. "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" is primarily dedicated to life in Prague in the 1960s and 1970s. He explores the artistic and intellectual life of Czech society during the communist period, from the Prague Spring to the occupation of the Soviet Union in 1968. The main characters are Thomas, his wife Teresa, a photographer suffering from her husband's infidelity; Sabina, mistress of the free-spirited artist Thomas; and Franz, a Swiss academic in love with Sabina. Each of these four symbols is the embodiment of a metaphorical figure: Thomas is uncertain, both a husband and a changeable lover, in other words, he uses Kierkegaard categories, ethics and aesthetics. Teresa is a moral, loyal wife who is loyal to her husband and defends pure love. Sabina is light, according to Kundera, it is a feature that defines modernity. Frances, like Teresa, represents gravity. This character is stuck in a bad marriage. It embodies the old world. In all his works, including this novel, Kundera wrote about his unfulfilled dreams and created a mysterious, magical world from words. An ordinary joke in Kundera's works sometimes leads to tragedy. Key words :being, non – entity, lightness, love, loyalty, attraction, character, innovation, purity,

The article analyzes the philosophical categories «life», «death», «immortality»which form the basis of the ideological narrative plan in Milan Kundera’s novel «Immortality», as well as ways of their representation in the text. Using the paradox technique, M. Kundera changes the usual distribution of meanings associated with the concepts of «life» and «death»: life - being, good, death - non-existence, evil. M. Kundera deprives the antinomy of «life-death» of the usual confrontation, demonstrating by the example of his characters that life can contain death, and death can be a return to life. Such an idea of life and death is characteristic of traditional culture and is found in various religious paradigms (Christianity, Buddhism, etc.). In the novel «Immortality» there is a combination of the author’s view of philosophical categories and the approach characteristic of traditional culture, in which the semantic discourses of the concepts of «life», «death» and «immortality» constantly intersect. Traditional ideas about the nature of life and death are combined in the novel with a system ofparadoxes characteristic of the Kundera narrative, the purpose of which is to reveal contradictions within complex existential concepts and phenomena.

Milan Kundera – The Idea of Love in the Story "Laughable Loves" Summary Born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, Milan Kundera was a student when the Czech communist regime was established in 1948, and later worked as a laborer, jazz musician and professor at the Institute for Advanced Cinematographic Studies in Prague. His books were banned after the Russian occupation in August 1968. She and her husband settled in France in 1975, and in 1981 became French citizens. He is the author of the novels "Joke", "Life is Elsewhere", "Goodbye Waltz", "Book of Laughter and Forgetfulness", "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and "Immortality" and a collection of short stories "Laughable Loves" – all originally in Czech. His most recent novels, Slowness, Personality, and Ignorance, as well as his non-fiction works, Roman Art and Betrayed Will, were first written in French. The core of the themes that the author will work on in his later novels, as well as the original and innovative narrative methods in the development of these themes can be found in Kundera's "Laughable Loves", written with the greatest pleasure and delight. It can be said that the story book, which took ten years to write, is very different in terms of both content and form. In Kundera's stories, men persecute women with their "erotic passions." Married, single, old and young men face social difficulties, accept the loss of time and economic difficulties and try to attract women. Kundera beautifully reflects the universal challenges they face during this marathon. "Laughable Loves" is about raising the power of expression and aesthetics, as well as the successful depiction of this universal event – with humor.

This text sheds light on the meaning of the popular phrases "unbearable lightness of being" and "feeling of austerity" in Milan Kundera's novel "The Book of Laughter and Oblivion" and Philip Kaufman's film "Unbearable Lightness of Being", which is based on Kundera's novel of the same name. This explanation is rooted in his subversive magically realistic poetics, which are related to his emigrant life path and the inability to directly write about the burning topics of freedom, terror, morality, human relations, promiscuity, love.Special emphasis is put on the poetics of magical realism, which is explained as the way in which Kundera expresses his artistic ideas. Specifically, many magically realistic elements are present in the above-mentioned works, such as: verbal magic; magical atmosphere; merging the real and the magical; displacement of time, space, identity. The representation of all these magically realistic elements is interpreted as a shield that covers a new objectification of the reality of East and West and of the postmodern world in general, which is characterized, as Kundera sarcastically states, by the phrase "unbearable lightness of being".