"The Unbearable Lightness of Being"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Milan Kundera's book, "The Unbearable Lightness of Being." It describes Kundera's characters and their relationship to how he perceived life in Soviet Czechoslovakia at the time as well as the book's core issue of existentialism and the techniques used by the narrator. In addition, the paper discusses the plot of the book and how the characters relate to it.

From the Paper:

"Franz is a university professor who teaches philosophy and falls in love with Sabina, his exact opposite. Franz is a heavy character who looks for meaning in life and lives for strong emotions generated either by love or by politics. He is a combination of idealism, naivete and the inability to understand his surroundings. Unlike Tomas, he does not change; he is not a dynamic character. Only at the end of his life is he able to wonder about his choices and question his decisions. He goes to Vietnam and becomes a political activist, upholding ideals of freedom, justice and truth, thinking that Sabina would be proud of him and his mission. He is sadly mistaken, and dies a meaningless death, killed during a mugging."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Doctorow, E.L. "Four Characters Under Two Tyrannies." <http://www.kundera.de/english/Bibliography/The_Unbearable_Lightness_of_Be/the_unbearable_lightness_of_be.html>
• Kimbrell, Gregory. "Existential Investigation: The Unbearable Lightness of Being and History". Chrestomathy: Annual Review of Undergraduate Research at the College of CharlestonVolume 1 (2002). 66-82 <www.cofc.edu/chrestomathy/vol1/kimbrell.pdf>
• Kundera, Milan. The Unbearable Lightness of Being. New York: Perennial Classics, 1999.
• Pichova, Hana. "The Narrator in Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being." The Slavic and East European Journal 36.2. (1992). 217-226.
• Van Hecke, Roel. "Mind reading in Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being." <http://www.arts.kuleuven.be/literary_studies/doctoraatsonderzoek_doctoreren_MNM/PGS_2005/Roel_Van_Hecke.pdf.>

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