89 Words Followed by Prague, a Disappearing Poem

Name: 89 Words Followed by Prague, a Disappearing Poem
Author: Unknown Author
ISBN: 9780571393244

by Unknown Author

240 pages2025Faber & Faber, LimitedISBN 9780571393244

History

About this book

An invigorating duo of essays exploring exile, language and national identity from one of Europe's most celebrated literary stars and author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being. 89 Words, published in 1985, is an expanded version of the dictionary of sorts that readers encountered in The Art of the Novel, and comprises a fascinating and rigorous interrogation of what exile, life in another language, and the betrayals of translations entail. Prague: A Disappearing Poem, dating from 1980, meditates on questions of the culture of the 'small nation' that formed and lends specificity to Kundera's work, and - as in A Kidnapped West - questions of the Soviet and Western attitudes to Czech culture. Together, these provocative, elegant and wise essays remind familiar readers of Kundera's presence - his inimitable voice - and for new readers, offer an introduction to his oeuvre: an access point into his fictional universe, characterised by devastating irony and subtlety of judgement.

Publication Details

Publisher: Faber & Faber, Limited
Published: 2025
Pages: 240
ISBN: 9780571393244
Language: en

About Unknown Author

Milan Kundera (1. dubna 1929 Brno – 11. července 2023 Paříž) byl česko-francouzský spisovatel. Od roku 1975 žil ve Francii, v roce 1979 byl zbaven československého státního občanství, roku 1981 získal občanství francouzské a v roce 2019 mu bylo vráceno občanství české. Texty psal nejdříve česky, později francouzsky. Do literatury vstoupil jako básník a dramatik, nakonec se ale stal celosvětově známým především jako prozaik a esejista. Jeho texty, zejména *Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí, Nesmrtelnost* a *Žert,* se zařadily mezi nejčastěji překládaná česká díla ve světě. Svá pozdější díla ve francouzštině k překladům do češtiny dlouho nesvěřoval, první přeloženou prózou do rodného jazyka se stala až Slavnost bezvýznamnosti v roce 2020. ---------- Milan Kundera (April 1, 1929, Brno – July 11, 2023, Paris) was a Czech-French writer. He lived in France since 1975, was stripped of his Czechoslovak citizenship in 1979, acquired French citizenship in 1981, and had his Czech citizenship restored in 2019. He first wrote his texts in Czech, later in French. He entered literature as a poet and playwright, but eventually became known worldwide primarily as a prose writer and essayist. His texts, especially *The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Immortality* and *The Joke*,* are among the most frequently translated Czech works in the world. He did not entrust his later works in French to Czech translations for a long time, and the first prose work translated into his native language was The Celebration of Insignificance in 2020.