Renowned Czech writer Milan Kundera passed away on Wednesday at the age of 94. In his most famous book, The Unbearable Lightness of Existence, Kundera wrote that anyone who aspires toward what is "higher" will one day suffer from dizziness. What is that dizziness? Fear of failure? "No [...] it is the ease of emptiness beneath us, which seduces us and winks at us, it is the desire to fall, against which we defend, terrified."
This contradiction between desire and defense against it was present in the depth of Kundera's writing, which left behind not only novels ("The Book of Laughter and Oblivion", "The Joke", "Ridiculous Loves", "Last Dance and Farewell", etc.), but also books of poetry, essays and plays.
Kundera was born in what was then still Czechoslovakia, to a father who was a renowned pianist – Ludwik Kundera – and was inspired to study music and musicology. After pursuing academic studies, he chose literature and later film and theater, and upon completion began lecturing at the University of Prague. For a short time, at the age of 18, he was a member of the Communist Party in his country, but was expelled from it after being accused of "anti-communist activity", and then, during the "Prague Spring", he was one of the leaders in the struggles of intellectuals against the repressive regime, and often made his voice heard in the demand for freedom of expression and equal rights.
This struggle is also well reflected in his books and short stories. Especially in "The Joke" (1967), which centers on a student, a communist activist, whose casual joke about the personalities of communism leads to trial, conviction and forced labor, and in "The Book of Laughter and Forgetfulness" – a collection of stories that describe in particularly biting language the routine life after the Sovietization of Czechoslovakia. A year later, when the Soviet Union invaded Prague, his writings were banned, he lost his job and in 1975 was exiled to France, where he lived until his death. The Czechoslovak government revoked his citizenship in 1979.
Kundera continued to write in France. The American writer Philip Roth, who was a close friend, included his writings in a series of books that he edited and published "Voices from the Other Europe", and in 1984 his novel "The Unbearable Lightness of Existence" was published, which at once gained him great publicity, and resulted in his writings all being translated into languages. The book was also adapted into a film starring Juliette Binoche and Daniel Di Luis.
Kundera's name frequently appeared on the lists of candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature, but he never won it. Among the dozens of prizes awarded to Kundera for his writing, he was also awarded the Jerusalem Prize for Human Freedom in 1985.
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