The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part One: Lightness and Weight
Quotes from book
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Milan Kundera
Original title
Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí
(Czech, 1984)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a 1984 novel by Milan Kundera, about two women, two men, a dog and their lives in the 1968 Prague Spring period of Czechoslovak history. Although written in 1982, the novel was not published until two years later, in a French translation . The original Czech text was published the following year.
pg 46
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Two: Soul and Body
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Two: Soul and Body, p. 59
“What is unique about the "I" hides itself exactly in what is unimaginable about a person.”
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Five: Lightness and Weight
Context: What is unique about the "I" hides itself exactly in what is unimaginable about a person. All we are able to imagine is what makes everyone like everyone else, what people have in common. The individual "I" is what differs from the common stock, that is, what cannot be guessed at or calculated, what must be unveiled, uncovered, conquered.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Five: Lightness and Weight
Context: Whenever a single political movement corners power, we find ourselves in the realm of totalitarian kitsch. When I say “totalitarian,” what I mean is that everything that infringes on kitsch must be banished for life: every display of individualism (because a deviation from the collective is a spit in the eye of the smiling brotherhood); every doubt (because anyone who starts doubting details will end by doubting life itself); all irony (because in the realm of kitsch everything must be taken quite seriously); and the mother who abandons her family or the man who prefers men to women, thereby calling into question the holy decree “Be fruitful and multiply.”
“In the realm of totalitarian kitsch, all answers are given in advance and preclude any questions.”
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Five: Lightness and Weight
Context: In the realm of totalitarian kitsch, all answers are given in advance and preclude any questions. It follows, then, that the true opponent of totalitarian kitsch is the person who asks questions. A question is like a knife that slices through the stage backdrop and gives us a look at what lies hidden behind it.
“When we ignore the body, we are more easily victimized by it.”
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Two: Soul and Body, pg 37
