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Milan Kundera

Biography

Milan Kundera

The Franco-Czech novelist Milan Kundera was born in Brno and has lived in France, his second homeland, since 1975. He is the author of the novels THE JOKE, FAREWELL WALTZ, LIFE IS ELSEWHERE, THE BOOK OF LAUGHTER AND FORGETTING, THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING and IMMORTALITY, and the short-story collection LAUGHABLE LOVES --- all originally written in Czech. His most recent novels SLOWNESS, IDENTITY and IGNORANCE, as well as his nonfiction works THE ART OF THE NOVEL, TESTAMENTS BETRAYED, THE CURTAIN and ENCOUNTER were originally written in French.

Milan Kundera

Books by Milan Kundera

by Milan Kundera - Fiction

Set in Paris today, THE FESTIVAL OF INSIGNIFICANCE follows four friends who run into each other in the Luxembourg Gardens, attend parties, and conduct a long-running exchange on sex, desire, history, art, even the meaning of human existence. Alain, one of the friends, is fascinated by the exposed belly buttons of passing women --- the latest fashion --- and takes navel-gazing to imaginative, erotic heights. Another, who has just been told that he does not have cancer, tells a friend that his case is terminal.