World-famous Czech-French writer Milan Kundera has died at the age of 94. The Czech media announced this on Wednesday. He had an ambivalent relationship with his homeland.
Born in Brno on April 1, 1929, the author entered world literature at the latest with his international bestseller The Unbearable Lightness of Being. He was repeatedly mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The Great and Small Mysteries of Mankind
In his novels, Kundera traced the great and small mysteries of human existence. Fans and critics alike appreciate his prose style, which is as lucid as it is tongue-in-cheek. In the end, however, it was Philip Kaufman’s 1987 film adaptation of The Unbearable Lightness of Being that ultimately paved the way for Kundera to international stardom.
The erotic and tragic love story between the surgeon Tomas and the waitress Teresa against the background of the oppression of the Prague Spring touched many people – and is set against the background of its own story.
Kundera himself, once a member of the Communist Party, fell out of favor after the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and emigrated to France, where he later taught at the universities of Rennes and Paris. In 1979 he was deprived of Czechoslovak citizenship and in 1981 he received French. From 1993 Kundera wrote his books in French. The author did not allow translations into Czech.
Numerous awards
The author received a very special honor when his work was published in the prestigious French edition “La Pleiade” (Seven Stars). To be included in this collection, you must meet strict requirements. Kundera received numerous awards, such as the “Prix Médicis”, the Order of the Knights of the French Legion of Honor and the Jerusalem Prize.
Kundera’s work was also appreciated in Austria, for which he received the Austrian State Prize for European Literature in 1987, among other things.
Source: Krone
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