“All novels… are concerned with the enigma of the self. As soon as you create an imaginary being, a character, you are automatically confronted by the question: what is the self? How can it be grasped?”
Source: The Art of the Novel
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Milan Kundera 198
Czech author of Czech and French literature 1929–2023Related quotes

2020, March 2020

“Self-discipline is indispensable, if you want to master your character.”
Examples of self-translation (c. 2004), Quotes - Zitate - Citations - Citazioni

“We are ready to sacrifice our true, transitory self for the imaginary eternal self we are building”
Section 47
The True Believer (1951), Part Three: United Action and Self-Sacrifice
Context: Glory is largely a theatrical concept. There is no striving for glory without a vivid awareness of an audience—the knowledge that our mighty deeds will come to the ears of our contemporaries or "of those that are to be." We are ready to sacrifice our true, transitory self for the imaginary eternal self we are building up, by our heroic deeds, in the opinion and imagination of others.