Milan Kundera, página 2 de 13

"C.S.: Lei non ha parlato quasi per nulla del "Valzer degli addii". "M.K.: Eppure e il romanzo che in un certo senso mi e piu caro. Come "Amori ridicoli", l''ho scritto con piu divertimento, con piu piacere degli altri. In un altro stato d''animo. Anche molto piu in fretta. "C.S.: Ha solo cinque parti. "M.K.: Si fonda su un archetipo formale del tutto diverso da quello degli altri miei romanzi. E'' assolutamente omogeneo, senza digressioni, composto di una sola materia, raccontato con lo stesso tempo, e molto teatrale, stilizzato, basato sulla forma del vaudeville." (Milan Kundera, "L''arte del romanzo")

Ludvik Jahn, joven estudiante universitario y activo miembro del Partido Comunista checo, envía a una compañera de clase una postal en la que se burla del optimismo ideológico imperante. La broma no les hace la menor gracia a los dirigentes universitarios y, tras un juicio sumario, expulsan a Ludvik de la universidad y del Partido. Pero, paradojicamente, al caer en desgracia, se abre para Ludvik un mundo aun desconocido. Atrapado entre dos amores, el de Lucie, tierno y desesperado, y el de Helena, apasionado y cinico, Ludvik va, sin embargo, de tropiezo en tropiezo, transformando su vida en un cumulo de situaciones a cual mas grotesca y risible. De hecho, con el paso del tiempo, la vida de Ludvik se convertira en una enorme broma pesada: ya no podra culpar al destino, porque ya no puede sino culparse a si mismo.

Jacques and His Master is a deliciously witty and entertaining variation on Diderots novel Jacques le fataliste, written for Milan Kunderas private pleasure in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia. When the heavy Russian irrationality fell on Czechoslovakia he felt drawn to the spirit of the eighteenth century - And it seemed to me that nowhere was it to be found more densely concentrated than in that banquet of intelligence, humour and fantasy, Jacques le Fataliste. This translation by Simon Callow has delighted Kunderas admirers throughout the English-speaking world.

A heady, existential tale of seduction and romance by the author of modern classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being.An artist, clearly one of the best to be found anywhere.Salman RushdieKundera designs fictions of the highest order.Ian McEwanAudacity, wit and sheer brilliance.New York Times Book ReviewIn a French chateau on a midsummers night, two tales of seduction entwine, separated in time by over two hundred years, but united in their quest for sensual pleasure. Through their romantic endeavors, a contemporary holidaymaker and eighteenth-century chevalier illustrate our eras obsession with the vulgar demon of speed - and the phenomenon of the dancer.Oscillating between the sublime and ridiculous, the historic and the modern, Kunderas first novel written in French is an enchanting libertine fantasy, radiant with intelligence and wisdom.

A dazzling tragicomic tale from the author of modern classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being.Anyone reading Kunderas books is unlikely to forget them. They have an essential energy, a difference. New StatesmanKundera is a self-confessed hedonist in a world beset by politics . . . Marvellous.Salman RushdieKlima, a celebrated jazz trumpeter, learns that a young nurse with whom he spent one brief night at a fertility spa is pregnant - and she has decided he is the father. Thus begins a whirlwind farce as he returns to the spa: an accelerating dance which unfolds over five madcap days, encompassing Klimas jealous wife, the nurses equally jealous boyfriend, a fanatical gynaecologist, a rich American (at once Don Juan and saint) and an elderly political prisoner who is holding a farewell party before emigration. Posing serious philosophical questions with his inimitable blasphemous lightness, Farewell Waltz is perhaps the most purely entertaining of Kunderas novels, rich in black humour and profound human insights.

A philosophical masterpiece by the author of modern classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being.An artist, clearly one of the best to be found anywhere. Salman RushdieKundera designs fictions of the highest order.Ian McEwanChantal awaits her partner in a hotel on the Normandy coast, struggling to find him on a crowded beach. After mistaking him for a stranger, they reunite, and she reveals her fears of men no longer turning to look at her. Soon, she begins to receive mysterious love letters, which she hides in her underwear drawer - but as the border between fantasy and reality blurs, perhaps the secret correspondent is someone closer to her than she realises?In this disquieting love story, Kundera reveals our shifting perceptions of selfhood over time, especially within the intimacy of a relationship - and makes us question our own existence.

A provocative and rousing insight into European politics from one of the worlds greatest writers.One of his most powerful works.Financial TimesA pan-European intellectual force.TimesIn a moment of historic peril and uncertainty in mainland Europe, Milan Kundera makes the case for Central Europe as the nucleus of European values and as a lightning rod for its potential dangers.For the countries that make up this region where democracy is under continued threat from Russian oppression, language and culture play an active role in affirming national identity. And each of these countries - Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia - has been historically overlooked by the major powers of Western Europe. But Kundera cautions that this blindness puts Europes cultural and political independence at risk, a warning that feels increasingly relevant to our current moment, and our future.

Milan Kundera se sirve a la vez de una novela francesa del siglo XVIII y de una excursión que a el y a su mujer se les antoja hacer a un castillo de Francia convertido en hotel, para ir dando vida a una serie de personajes del pasado y del presente que terminan coincidiendo en un congreso de entomologos que se celebra en sus salones. Personajes e historias de ayer y de hoy van entrelazandose de tal manera que a nadie sorprendera, por ejemplo, que un hombre enfundado en un casco de motociclista, azorado e impaciente, se aleje en su moto a toda velocidad, mientras otro, con una peluca blanca, adormilado y ensimismado, se sube a una calesa que parece salida de una estampa del pasadoa: el primero desea sin duda dejar algo tras de si a toda prisaa; el segundo, en cambio, parece disponerse a rememorar, al paso lento del caballo, la noche que acaba de pasar con la intrigante y seductora Madame de T.

Kunderaren eleberriak erdi fikzio erdi saiakera dira, eta baliabide interesgarri ugari erabili ohi ditu: ironia, ahots narratzaileen ugaritasuna, osagarri erreal eta fikziozkoen arteko nahasketa, digresioa, eta abar. Egileak aurka egiten die, literaturaren bidez, giza (eta gizarte) mixeriei, apustu etiko eta filosofikoa eginez. Bere testuetan askatu gabeko korapilorik utzi nahi ez duenez, idazle orojakile eta guztiahaldun gisa agertzen zaigu: pertsonaiek zer egiten duten azaltzeaz gain, buruan une oro zer darabilten jakinarazten digu.

Un "romanzo in forma di variazioni" calamitato da un tema: "la lotta dell''uomo contro il potere e la lotta della memoria contro l''oblio".