PT Journal
AU Ceska, J
TI About the meaning of Milan Kundera's early works.
SO Bohemica Olomucensia
PY 2023
BP 40
EP 56
VL 14
IS 3
DI 10.5507/bo.2022.031
DE Milan Kundera; Man: A Wide Garden; Jan Novak
AB In a partly polemical study I raise the question of the meaning of Milan Kundera's early work. The polemic goes in two directions: first, against Jan Novak's voluminous monograph, Kundera: Czech Life and Times, and second, against Holt Meyer's summarizing review of Novak's book, which was published in French. I use the example of Novak's paraphrase of one of Kundera's early poems ("Love and Life", Man: A Wide Garden) to illustrate his fictionalizing style. By interpreting the same poem myself, I illustrate the meaning of early poetry, the knowledge of which is essential for understanding the background and dynamics of Milan Kundera's entire oeuvre. It is also centred around several basic themes. Chief among them is the theme of silencing, which is the central theme of the poem Love and Life.
ER