Born on April 1, 1929, in Brno, Czech Republic, Milan Kundera was exposed to the arts early on through his father, a renowned pianist, before turning to writing and becoming a lecturer in World Literature at the Prague Film Academy in 1952.
Writer Milan Kundera (1929 - 2023)
His literary reputation stemmed from his poems and plays. After various political changes, he moved to France in 1975 and settled there.
His first novel, Žert (literally: The Joke), published in 1967, was inspired by the historical upheavals within Czechoslovakia and was a resounding success.
He used to work in pubs in a small town as a jazz musician, and eventually found freedom in art.
In 1984, his best and most famous novel , *The Unbearable Lightness of Being* , was published, solidifying the international standing of a great writer. This was followed by works such as *The Immortality * (1988), *Slowness* (1995), *Identity* (1998), and *L'Ignorance * (2000), all imbued with philosophical themes, speaking of nostalgia, memories, and longing for home.
In 2019, after 40 years living away from their homeland, Kundera and his wife Vera finally had their Czech citizenship restored. Petr Drulák, the Czech Republic's ambassador to France, called it "a very important symbolic gesture from the greatest Czech writer in the Czech Republic."
Over the years, he has won numerous awards, both major and minor, and has become one of the most widely predicted to be the next recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Works by Milan Kundera published in Vietnam
Salman Rushdie, a British author of Indian descent known for his notable novels, remarked of Kundera as "one of the greatest writers, who has left an indelible mark on the imagination of his readers."
In Vietnam, many of his works were translated and published in Vietnamese two decades ago. Being a discerning translator, Kundera was very selective; to date, only writer Nguyên Ngọc, translator Trịnh Y Thư, and critic Phạm Xuân Nguyên (pen name Ngân Xuyên) have been authorized to translate his works.
When Milan Kundera's books are published, there is also a requirement that they have no introduction on the back cover, no praise, or biography on the cover.
Source link
Comment (0)