Wednesday, July 12, 2023

RIP Milan Kundera

Milan Kundera (1929-2023) was a Czech writer and dissident whose life under Stalinism turned him against not just totalitarian politics but politics in general. His books explored freedom as a deeply personal experience, something found more in art, friendship or sex than in the public realm. Here is a passage from The Unbearable Lightness of Being that I transcribed into my commonplace book many years ago:

A year or two after emigrating, she happened to be in Paris on the anniversary of the Russian invasion of her country. A protest march had been scheduled, and she felt driven to take part. Fists raised high, the young Frenchmen shouted out slogans condemning Soviet imperialism. She liked the slogans, but to her surprise she found herself unable to shout along with them. She lasted no more than a few minutes in the parade.

When she told her French friends about it, they were amazed. "You mean you don't want to fight the occupation of your country?" She would have liked to tell them that behind Communism, Fascism, behind all occupations and invasions lurks a more basic, pervasive evil and that the image of that evil was a parade of people marching by with raised fists and shouting identical syllables in unison. But she knew she would never be able to make them understand. Embarrassed, she changed the subject.

No comments: