,
The Most Read Books of the 2024 Reading Challenge (So Far)
Milan Kundera

Milan Kundera’s Followers (17,536)

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, Czechoslovakia
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 His Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, but he was granted Czech citizenship in 2019.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 · 791,304 ratings · 48,769 reviews · 130 distinct works • Similar authors
The Unbearable Lightness of...
4.11 avg rating — 479,263 ratings — published 1984 — 12 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...
3.96 avg rating — 50,110 ratings — published 1979 — 214 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 — 39,244 ratings — published 1990 — 215 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 — 36,395 ratings — published 1967 — 244 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Laughable Loves
3.83 avg rating — 33,958 ratings — published 1970 — 211 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 — 29,088 ratings — published 1997 — 167 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 — 24,715 ratings — published 2000 — 153 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 — 19,643 ratings — published 1973 — 156 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Slowness
by
3.62 avg rating — 20,237 ratings — published 1995 — 169 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 — 17,672 ratings — published 1972 — 193 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
7631 likes
Like

“You can't measure the mutual affection of two human beings by the number of words they exchange.”
― Milan Kundera
tags: love
3879 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
3796 likes
Like

Polls

April 2021 Revisit the Shelf Poll

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë 532 pages, pub. 1847 last read July 2016
 
  67 votes, 24.7%

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera 320 pages, pub. 1984, last read Dec. 2012
 
  61 votes, 22.5%

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 667 pages, pub. 1869, last read April 2016
 
  46 votes, 17.0%

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith 496 pages, pub. 1943, last read Aug 2019
 
  35 votes, 12.9%

Ivanhoe by Walter Scott 496 pages, pub. 1819, last read Jan 2017
 
  26 votes, 9.6%

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 1026 pages, pub. 1615, last read Sept. 2015
 
  18 votes, 6.6%

Despair by Vladimir Nabokov 212 pages, pub. 1934, last read Sept. 2013
 
  18 votes, 6.6%

271 total votes
More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics posts views last activity  
Chicks On Lit: January Noms 14 183 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! 30 260 Jan 10, 2009 04:15AM  
75 Books...More o...: This topic has been closed to new comments. Authors you love 17 2259 Jan 27, 2009 04:14AM  
The Next Best Boo...: OFFICIAL WINTER CHALLENGE - 2008/2009 2159 4147 Mar 04, 2009 07:03AM  
SciFi and Fantasy...: Tigana discussion -- Sexuality *Possible Spoilers* 30 150 May 28, 2009 12:21PM  
The Seasonal Read...: FALL CHALLENGE 2009 PLANS 167 1518 Oct 14, 2009 08:10AM  
College Students! : WINNERS for November! 32 153 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 62 Sep 06, 2010 12:10PM