This reform was spearheaded by Czech leader Alexander Dubcek, who came to power in January of 1968. Needless to say, this made the Czechs unhappy, and there began a period of attempted reform. Czechoslovakia was largely under the control of Stalinist Russia, which began to use the smaller country largely for its own interests. Political activism was strong in favor of communism, particularly among young people. After World War II, Czechoslovakia started taking steps toward becoming a communist nation. Let's get some background on the political history before diving into the novel. The narrator frequently interrupts the story to analyze his own characters and discuss the fictional plotline in the context of the novel's central philosophy: the dichotomy between lightness and weight. Set mostly in Prague during the Russian invasion of Prague in the late 1960s, the novel focuses on the love lives of four Czech intellectuals as they struggle with relationships, sex, politics, and the military occupation of their country. The novel is a genre-defying mix of historical fiction, love stories, philosophy, and experimentation with narrative technique. The Unbearable Lightness of Being was published in Paris in 1984 by Czech author Milan Kundera. The Unbearable Lightness of Being Introduction
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |