- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Harper; 20 Anv edition (April 22 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0060597186
- ISBN-13: 978-0060597184
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 15 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 386 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (142 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #78,592 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"Brilliant . . . A work of high modernist playfulness and deep pathos." -- -- Janet Malcolm, New York Review of Books
"Kundera has raised the novel of ideas to a new level of dreamlike lyricism and emotional intensity." -- -- Jim Miller, Newsweek
"Kundera is a virtuoso . . . A work of the boldest mastery, originality, and richness." -- -- Elizabeth Hardwick, Vanity Fair
"Kundera has raised the novel of ideas to a new level of dreamlike lyricism and emotional intensity." -- -- Jim Miller, Newsweek
"Kundera is a virtuoso . . . A work of the boldest mastery, originality, and richness." -- -- Elizabeth Hardwick, Vanity Fair
"Brilliant...A work of high modernist playfulness and deep pathos." -- Janet Malcolm, New York Review of Books
"Kundera has raised the novel of ideas to a new level of dreamlike lyricism and emotional intensity." -- Jin Miller, Newsweek
"Kundera is a virtuoso...A work of the boldest mastery, originality, and richness." -- Elizabeth Hardwick, Vanity Fair --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Book Description
When The Unbearable Lightness of Being was first published in English, it was hailed as "a work of the boldest mastery, originality, and richness" by critic Elizabeth Hardwick and named one of the best books of 1984 by the New York Times Book Review. It went on to win the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction and quickly became an international bestseller. Twenty years later, the novel has established itself as a modern classic. To commemorate the anniversary of its first English-language publication, HarperCollins is proud to offer a special hardcover edition.
A young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing; one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover -- these are the two couples whose story is told in this masterful novel.
Controlled by day, Tereza's jealousy awakens by night, transformed into ineffably sad death-dreams, while Tomas, a successful surgeon, alternates loving devotion to the dependent Tereza with the ardent pursuit of other women. Sabina, an independent, free-spirited artist, lives her life as a series of betrayals -- of parents, husband, country, love itself -- whereas her lover, the intellectual Franz, loses all because of his earnest goodness and fidelity.
In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. Hence we feel, says the novelist, "the unbearable lightness of being" -- not only as the consequence of our private acts but also in the public sphere, and the two inevitably intertwine.
This magnificent novel encompasses the extremes of comedy and tragedy, and embraces, it seems, all aspects of human existence. It juxtaposes geographically distant places (Prague, Geneva, Paris, Thailand, the United States, a forlorn Bohemian village); brilliant and playful reflections (on "eternal return," on kitsch, on man and animals -- Tomas and Tereza have a beloved doe named Karenin); and a variety of styles (from the farcical to the elegiac) to take its place as perhaps the major achievement of one of the world's truly great writers.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
The idea of eternal return is a mysterious one, and Nietzsche has often perplexed other philosophers with it: to think that everything recurs as we once experienced it, and that the recurrence itself recurs ad infinitum! Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
The idea of eternal return is a mysterious one, and Nietzsche has often perplexed other philosophers with it: to think that everything recurs as we once experienced it, and that the recurrence itself recurs ad infinitum! Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
not for everyone, but I liked it,
By "meltingyellow" (Hawaii) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Unbearable Lightness Of Being (Paperback)
I had no idea what I was getting into when I bought this book. But it turned out that I enjoyed it, and although it was more tedious to read towards the end, I would recommend it to anyone who can speed read.To me this book was written as one incredibly long train of thought. The train itself breaks off into other smaller trains of thought, but it always goes back to the principle story: that of Tomas and Tereza. While Kundera may turn off the reader who doesn't enjoy straight story-telling, he does tell a story here. It's not just a book of random musings and incoherent philosophizing. That said, the stories of "Unbearable.."'s characters are simple enough. Tomas is a philanderer, torn between his lifestyle and his love for Tereza, who kind of fell into his life by chance. Tereza is his wife, who is tortured by his infidelity but cannot leave him. Other more minor characters include Sabina, a mistress of Tomas, and Franz, another married lover of Sabina. These four characters are Kundera's chosen examples of the human experience. He reveals their inner desires and motives, and otherwise tells their psychological stories along with their real-life stories. They each have "issues", as does everyone in this world. But it's interesting how their personal philosophies, having been shaped by both their human experience and their intrinsic individuality, are so different from each other's. This in return shapes the experiences they have with each other. Tereza and Tomas lived for so long together, yet they never really thought alike. And because of this, they lived totally separate lives. That, in full, is my take on the book. Kundera presents many other theories on the human experience, and I found them all interesting, but the one element that I found carried the book through was the variance in the characters' personal (as in mental, emotional, and psychological) life experience. This variance made a whole world of difference, because what is life, outside how we perceive it? The real-life stories are also interesting, but I think they are meant to be in the background. The main story is mental, it's in their reactions to life, which drives their future actions. I say this because their lives end quite insignificantly, as though they might as well not have lived--a phrase in the book proves this "What happens but once might as well not have happened at all." And yes, if our lives are perceived this way, we might as well rule them out as insignificant. Our lives can be taken so lightly that is in unbearable--the unbearable lightness of being. But Kundera makes this point in the beginning: his characters are merely that. Characters. He uses them to illustrate his theories on the human experience. So is this book a negative commentary on life's insignificance? Is Kundera trying to tell us that life means nothing? I doubt that. I think viewed from the outside, our lives might seem like they mean nothing. But to each of us, our life is colored and perceived by what we bring to it: by our history, our philosophy, our dreams. Life is a personal experience, and if it means nothing to everyone else, it at least means something to us, for we are the ones who live it.
5.0 out of 5 stars
If I could, I would give this primer 6 stars!,
By Relentless "skepticalbeliever" (Gainesville, FL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Unbearable Lightness Of Being (Paperback)
This book is so hard to describe. It's human, yet it's not. It's multifaceted, yet it has a persistent theme. It's light reading, but it's heavy reading.I had never read any works from Kundera, and I now truly realize what I was missing. This book can be as inspiring as it can be depressing. It has so many messages and morales and so self-sufficient. The author does a very explendid job inmersing the reader into the storyline. Kundera should be revered as other genius authors are (e.g. Hemingway, Twain, et cetera). This book brought many a smile, reflection and tear in me. It evoked so many feelings and imagery. It made me think about the self, the soul and the body. Additionally, the philosophical implications of the book are rather important and deep in substance as it regards the concept of the self. Further, the author gives the impression that he is in the same agnostic position regarding Existentialism and Transendetalism as many other people still is (including myself). The author questions many things, among them: love, sex, the physical body, the "image" body, faithfulness, human-to-animal relationship, and even religion. Wonderful book, and will highly recommend to anyone interested in smart, and reflective reading.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
great,
By
This review is from: Unbearable Lightness Of Being (Paperback)
i really enjoyed this book, it's one of those ones you have to think about. the story follows two couples, tomas and tereza and sabina and franz. these people are used to embody certain ideals and characteristics, and i interpreted their actions more as metaphor rather than just an act in itself.i suppose one of the major themes in the book is expressed in the title, this idea of weight in association with how we interact with the world, and whether or not it is a good or bad thing to have. i understood the weight to be our ties to the world, our responsibilities. like a sac we carry. the question is -is it better to have the sac full of stuff you may need or want with you or is it better to be unburdened? what i found helpful was that for the perspectives presented, the opposite perspective is presented to contrast, neither one being more right than the other. each of the four main characters had some sort of struggle they were attempting to overcome (which i loved reading about. there is nothing more enlightening and empowering than to watch someone overcome what discontents them). all of the struggles have to do with how the characters interact with those they know, which i saw to be a preference for either weight or lightness. this is one of those books you could (and should) spend hours thinking about.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
