PARIS (AP) — Milan Kundera, the renowned author known for his dissident writings and exploration of identity and the human condition, has passed away in Paris at the age of 94, according to a statement from his publishing house Gallimard. Kundera, who held both French and Czech nationality, died on Tuesday but no further details were provided. The European Parliament observed a moment of silence in his honor. Despite his international fame, Kundera was famously reclusive and avoided interviews. In a 1986 essay titled “The Art of the Novel,” he expressed his desire for writers to remain anonymous and use pseudonyms. Kundera’s best-known novel, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” poignantly begins with the Soviet invasion of Prague, the city where he lived before moving to France in 1975. The novel, with its themes of love, exile, and politics, gained critical acclaim and a wide Western readership. Kundera’s complex relationship with his home country, Czechoslovakia, is evident in his delayed recognition there. His works, initially banned in Czechoslovakia, were only translated into Czech years later. In 1989, following the Velvet Revolution, the country transformed into the Czech Republic, but Kundera had already established a new life and identity in Paris. He was survived by his wife Věra, who played a crucial role in his literary career and protected him from the outside world. Kundera’s legacy will endure through his works, which resonated with readers globally. The author’s private library and archive were recently donated to the public library in his birthplace, Brno. Despite his aversion to digital copies, his novels are now available in electronic formats like Kindle. In a speech to the French National Library in 2012, Kundera voiced concerns about the future of literature and urged for the preservation of traditional book reading.
Renowned Czech Writer Milan Kundera, known for Reclusiveness and Dissident Past, Passes Away in Paris at Age 94
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