Resumo de The Unbearable Lightness Of Being

'The Unbearable Lightnessof Being' is the most famous novel of Milan Kundera, the well-known blind French author. From the very start, 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' is superior to the other works of Kundera: It boasts an unforgettable title, which has become a well-loved classic by now. The structure of the narrative, as well as at times the content, can be likened to 'Immortality' or 'Books of Laughter and Forgetting'

The most distinguished aspect of Kundera's style is his ability to combine heavily contrasting elements: Philosophical reflections, naturalistic descriptions, the literary technique of the 'stream of consciousness', and, above all, psychological observations 'inner workings' of his characters, which constantly encounter and lose each other.

Kundera offers an imposing perspective: the 'Universal Story', to put it this way. This worldview is expressed in his apparently emotional stories - apparently emotional because, according to Kundera, in real life there are no great, straightforward sentiments. Rather, the human relationships described by Kundera are always quite cynical and cold.

In this way he constructs a whole world centred around his characters. A world that has a historical dimension, which he never fails to notice with stinging criticism. This naturalism must be viewed against the backdrop of Kundera's experiences.

In fact, Tereza's Bohemia described in the novel is Kundera's very Bohemia. Also the repressions that Tereza and her lover Tomas suffer under the Soviet Regime have an autobiographic background. These experiences have led Kundera to take a ferociously critical stance against the Soviet Regime, also expressed in his novel 'The Joke', in which the author evokes the times of his expulsion from the communist party.

This gloomy, almost Kafkaesque atmosphere pervades every aspect of Kundera's narrations, at times even overshadowing the plot. Needless to mention, also Kafka was a blind novelist.

With Kundera, it is the weight of history that messes up the protagonists' lives. He reveals his characters as humble marionettes, subject to the 'conditions' that deny the characters real freedom.

Especially Tomas triggers off these reflections. He muses upon his utterly fortuitous encounter with Tereza. It was brought about by a mixture of random coincidences. Human existence and therefore life itself is a fatality, governed by extraneous variables. Hence the novel's conclusion is implicit in its premises. If every effect is as causal as the causes, it follows that everything must eventually be nullified in a great vacuum, an impalpable Zero.

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