,
Readers' Most Anticipated Books for Spring
Milan Kundera

Milan Kundera’s Followers (18,356)

member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo

Milan Kundera


Born
in Brno, Czechia, Czech Republic
April 01, 1929

Died
July 11, 2023

Genre
Literature & Fiction

Influences
Robert Musil, Witold Gombrowicz, Sterne, Diderot, François Rabelais, H ...more


Milan Kundera (1 April 1929 – 11 July 2023) was a Czech and French novelist. He went into exile in France in 1975, acquiring citizenship in 1981. His Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, but he was granted Czech citizenship in 2019.

Kundera wrote in Czech and French. He revises the French translations of all his books; people therefore consider these original works as not translations. He is best known for his novels, including The Joke (1967), The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (1979), and The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), all of which exhibit his extreme though often comical skepticism.
 ...more

Combine Editions

Average rating: 4.02 · 844,365 ratings · 54,225 reviews · 218 distinct works • Similar authors
The Unbearable Lightness of...
4.11 avg rating — 513,087 ratings — published 1984 — 36 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
The Book of Laughter and Fo...
3.95 avg rating — 52,276 ratings — published 1979 — 208 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Immortality
4.14 avg rating — 41,230 ratings — published 1990 — 218 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
The Joke
4.03 avg rating — 38,551 ratings — published 1967 — 246 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Laughable Loves
3.82 avg rating — 36,639 ratings — published 1970 — 215 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Identity
3.69 avg rating — 31,354 ratings — published 1997 — 169 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Ignorance
3.81 avg rating — 26,377 ratings — published 2000 — 164 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Life is Elsewhere
by
3.96 avg rating — 20,682 ratings — published 1973 — 158 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Slowness
by
3.61 avg rating — 21,426 ratings — published 1995 — 9 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Farewell Waltz
3.87 avg rating — 18,976 ratings — published 1972 — 197 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
More books by Milan Kundera…
Quotes by Milan Kundera  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Two people in love, alone, isolated from the world, that's beautiful.”
― Milan Kundera
tags: love
7655 likes
Like

“You can't measure the mutual affection of two human beings by the number of words they exchange.”
― Milan Kundera
tags: love
3892 likes
Like

“Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect someday to suffer vertigo. What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves.”
― Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
tags: goals, success
3838 likes
Like

Polls

November 2014 Revisit the Shelf Classics Poll

1860, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, 672 pages
 
  20 votes, 15.4%

1953, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, 238 pages
 
  16 votes, 12.3%

 
  15 votes, 11.5%

 
  12 votes, 9.2%

 
  11 votes, 8.5%

 
  10 votes, 7.7%

 
  10 votes, 7.7%

1898, The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, 192 pages
 
  9 votes, 6.9%

 
  8 votes, 6.2%

 
  7 votes, 5.4%

1935, Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier, 320 pages
 
  6 votes, 4.6%

 
  6 votes, 4.6%

130 total votes
More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics posts views last activity  
Chicks On Lit: January Noms 14 186 Nov 11, 2008 02:01PM  
The Next Best Boo...: Books, Planes, Memories 16 198 Dec 03, 2008 06:12AM  
The Next Best Boo...: Hello from London! 30 264 Jan 10, 2009 04:15AM  
75 Books...More o...: This topic has been closed to new comments. Authors you love 17 2281 Jan 27, 2009 04:14AM  
The Next Best Boo...: OFFICIAL WINTER CHALLENGE - 2008/2009 2159 4167 Mar 04, 2009 07:03AM  
SciFi and Fantasy...: Tigana discussion -- Sexuality *Possible Spoilers* 30 152 May 28, 2009 12:21PM  
The Seasonal Read...: FALL CHALLENGE 2009 PLANS 167 1521 Oct 14, 2009 08:10AM  
College Students! : WINNERS for November! 32 154 Oct 22, 2009 06:03PM  
The Next Best Boo...: February's WINNERS ARE..... 102 508 Feb 01, 2010 01:13PM  
SA Book & Challen...: The Patchwork Challenge (Suggestions) 85 67 Sep 06, 2010 12:10PM