Milan Kundera (, ; born 1 April 1929) is a Czech writer who went into exile in France in 1975, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1981.
He was awarded the 1985 Jerusalem Prize, in 1987 the Austrian State Prize for European Literature, and the 2000 Herder Prize. ==Biography== Kundera was born in 1929 at Purkyňova 6 (6 Purkyně Street) in Královo Pole, a quarter of Brno, Czechoslovakia, to a middle-class family.
His father, Ludvík Kundera (1891–1971), was an important Czech musicologist and pianist who served as the head of the Janáček Music Academy in Brno from 1948 to 1961.
Still in his teens, he joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia which seized power in 1948.
He completed his secondary school studies in Brno at Gymnázium třída Kapitána Jaroše in 1948.
After two terms, he transferred to the Film Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague where he first attended lectures in film direction and script writing. In 1950, his studies were interrupted when he and writer Jan Trefulka were expelled from the Communist Party for "anti-party activities." Trefulka described the incident in his novella Pršelo jim štěstí (Happiness Rained on Them, 1962).
After Kundera graduated in 1952, the Film Faculty appointed him a lecturer in world literature.
In 1956 Kundera was readmitted to the Party but was expelled for the second time in 1970.
His father, Ludvík Kundera (1891–1971), was an important Czech musicologist and pianist who served as the head of the Janáček Music Academy in Brno from 1948 to 1961.
After two terms, he transferred to the Film Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague where he first attended lectures in film direction and script writing. In 1950, his studies were interrupted when he and writer Jan Trefulka were expelled from the Communist Party for "anti-party activities." Trefulka described the incident in his novella Pršelo jim štěstí (Happiness Rained on Them, 1962).
Kundera also used the expulsion as an inspiration for the main theme of his novel Žert (The Joke, 1967).
Along with other reformist communist writers such as Pavel Kohout, he was peripherally involved in the 1968 Prague Spring.
This brief period of reformist activities was crushed by the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968.
His criticism of the Soviet invasion in 1968 led to his blacklisting in Czechoslovakia and the banning of his books. ===Life Is Elsewhere=== Kundera's second novel was first published in French as La vie est ailleurs in 1973 and in Czech as Život je jinde in 1979.
In 1956 Kundera was readmitted to the Party but was expelled for the second time in 1970.
His criticism of the Soviet invasion in 1968 led to his blacklisting in Czechoslovakia and the banning of his books. ===Life Is Elsewhere=== Kundera's second novel was first published in French as La vie est ailleurs in 1973 and in Czech as Život je jinde in 1979.
Milan Kundera (, ; born 1 April 1929) is a Czech writer who went into exile in France in 1975, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1981.
Kundera remained committed to reforming Czechoslovak communism, and argued vehemently in print with fellow Czech writer Václav Havel, saying, essentially, that everyone should remain calm and that "nobody is being locked up for his opinions yet," and "the significance of the Prague Autumn may ultimately be greater than that of the Prague Spring." Finally, however, Kundera relinquished his reformist dreams and moved to France in 1975.
Set in Czechoslovakia before, during, and after the Second World War, Life Is Elsewhere is a satirical portrait of the fictional poet Jaromil, a young and very naive idealist who becomes involved in political scandals. ===The Book of Laughter and Forgetting=== In 1975, Kundera moved to France where The Book of Laughter and Forgetting was published in 1979.
Kundera's Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979.
He was stripped of Czechoslovak citizenship in 1979; he has been a French citizen since 1981. He maintains contact with Czech and Slovak friends in his homeland, but rarely returns and always does so without fanfare. ==Work== Although his early poetic works are staunchly pro-communist, his novels escape ideological classification.
His criticism of the Soviet invasion in 1968 led to his blacklisting in Czechoslovakia and the banning of his books. ===Life Is Elsewhere=== Kundera's second novel was first published in French as La vie est ailleurs in 1973 and in Czech as Život je jinde in 1979.
Set in Czechoslovakia before, during, and after the Second World War, Life Is Elsewhere is a satirical portrait of the fictional poet Jaromil, a young and very naive idealist who becomes involved in political scandals. ===The Book of Laughter and Forgetting=== In 1975, Kundera moved to France where The Book of Laughter and Forgetting was published in 1979.
Milan Kundera (, ; born 1 April 1929) is a Czech writer who went into exile in France in 1975, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1981.
He was stripped of Czechoslovak citizenship in 1979; he has been a French citizen since 1981. He maintains contact with Czech and Slovak friends in his homeland, but rarely returns and always does so without fanfare. ==Work== Although his early poetic works are staunchly pro-communist, his novels escape ideological classification.
A Czech version, Kniha smíchu a zapomnění, was published in April 1981 by 68 Publishers, Toronto. ===The Unbearable Lightness of Being=== Kundera's most famous work, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, was published in 1984.
The asteroid 7390 Kundera, discovered at the Kleť Observatory in 1983, is named in his honor.
A Czech version, Kniha smíchu a zapomnění, was published in April 1981 by 68 Publishers, Toronto. ===The Unbearable Lightness of Being=== Kundera's most famous work, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, was published in 1984.
Yet Another Europe after 1984: Rethinking Milan Kundera and the Idea of Central Europe (Amsterdam Rodopi, 2012) 223 pp.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being 2 April 1984 New York Times.
He was awarded the 1985 Jerusalem Prize, in 1987 the Austrian State Prize for European Literature, and the 2000 Herder Prize. ==Biography== Kundera was born in 1929 at Purkyňova 6 (6 Purkyně Street) in Královo Pole, a quarter of Brno, Czechoslovakia, to a middle-class family.
Between 1985 and 1987, he undertook the revision of the French translations of his earlier works himself.
Coetzee, Gabriel García Márquez, Nadine Gordimer and Orhan Pamuk, as well as Carlos Fuentes, Juan Goytisolo, Philip Roth, Salman Rushdie and Jorge Semprún. ==Awards and honors== In 1985, Kundera received the Jerusalem Prize.
He was awarded the 1985 Jerusalem Prize, in 1987 the Austrian State Prize for European Literature, and the 2000 Herder Prize. ==Biography== Kundera was born in 1929 at Purkyňova 6 (6 Purkyně Street) in Královo Pole, a quarter of Brno, Czechoslovakia, to a middle-class family.
Between 1985 and 1987, he undertook the revision of the French translations of his earlier works himself.
He won The Austrian State Prize for European Literature in 1987.
In 1988, American director Philip Kaufman released a film adaptation. ===Immortality=== In 1990, Immortality was published.
Prior to the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the communist régime in Czechoslovakia banned his books.
Retrieved 2010-09-25 The Review of Contemporary Fiction, Summer 1989, 9.2.
In 1988, American director Philip Kaufman released a film adaptation. ===Immortality=== In 1990, Immortality was published.
Other influences include Laurence Sterne, Henry Fielding, Denis Diderot, Robert Musil, Witold Gombrowicz, Hermann Broch, Franz Kafka, and Martin Heidegger. Originally, he wrote in Czech, but from 1993 on he has written his novels in French.
He was awarded the 1985 Jerusalem Prize, in 1987 the Austrian State Prize for European Literature, and the 2000 Herder Prize. ==Biography== Kundera was born in 1929 at Purkyňova 6 (6 Purkyně Street) in Královo Pole, a quarter of Brno, Czechoslovakia, to a middle-class family.
In 2000, he was awarded the international Herder Prize.
(François Ricard, 2003) Many of Kundera's characters seem to develop as expositions of one of these themes at the expense of their full humanity.
In 2007, he was awarded the Czech State Literature Prize.
Retrieved 2010-09-25 'Reading with Kundera' By Russell Banks 4 March 2007 New York Times.
On 14 October 2008, the Czech Security Forces Archive ruled out the possibility that the document could be a fake, but refused to arrive at any other definite conclusions.
Nonetheless, Respekt states on its website that its task is to "impartially study the crimes of the former communist regime." On 3 November 2008, eleven internationally recognized writers came to Kundera's defence, including four Nobel laureates, J.
Retrieved 2010-09-25 "Milan Kundera" 9 November 2008 New York Times.
Article by Václav Havel in Salon October 2008.
Retrieved 2010-09-25 "The Flawed Defence" Article by Milan Kundera in Salon November 2008.
Retrieved 2010-09-25 "Informing und Terror" by Ivan Klíma, about the Kundera controversy Salon October 2008 Leprosy by Jiří Stránský, about the Kundera controversy, Salon'' October 2008.
In 2009, he was awarded the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca.
Retrieved 2010-09-25 "Of Dogs and Death" A review of Une Recontre (An Encounter) 27 April 2009.
In 2010, he was made an honorary citizen of his hometown, Brno.
Retrieved 2010-09-25 "Milan Kundera" 9 November 2008 New York Times.
Retrieved 2010-09-25 Book reviews; interviews Review.
Retrieved 2010-09-25 'Reading with Kundera' By Russell Banks 4 March 2007 New York Times.
Retrieved 2010-09-25 Review of Slowness from The Review of European Studies.
Retrieved 2010-09-25 "Of Dogs and Death" A review of Une Recontre (An Encounter) 27 April 2009.
Retrieved 2010-09-25 The Review of Contemporary Fiction, Summer 1989, 9.2.
Retrieved 2010-09-25 Open letters "Two Messages".
Retrieved 2010-09-25 "The Flawed Defence" Article by Milan Kundera in Salon November 2008.
Retrieved 2010-09-25 "Informing und Terror" by Ivan Klíma, about the Kundera controversy Salon October 2008 Leprosy by Jiří Stránský, about the Kundera controversy, Salon'' October 2008.
Retrieved 2010-09-25 Archives Finding aid to Milan Kundera Manuscripts at Columbia University.
In 2011, he received the Ovid Prize.
Brian James Baer (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2011), pp. 19–31. Nicoletta Pireddu, "European Ulyssiads: Claudio Magris, Milan Kundera, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt," in "Comparative Literature", Special Issue "Odyssey, Exile, Return" Ed.
Yet Another Europe after 1984: Rethinking Milan Kundera and the Idea of Central Europe (Amsterdam Rodopi, 2012) 223 pp.
The novel, his last in Czech, was more cosmopolitan than its predecessors, more explicitly philosophical and less political, as were his later writings. === The Festival of Insignificance === The 2014 novel focuses on the musings of four male friends living in Paris who discuss their relationships with women and the existential predicament confronting individuals in the world, among other things.
by Michelle Zerba and Adelaide Russo, 67 (3), 2015: pp. 67–86. ==External links== Biographical Milan Kundera and the Czech Republic.
He received his Czech citizenship back in 2019.
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