Milan Kundera and the Central European question – Brno

Fact of the Czech figure „The intersection of Europe”

Part of the „Transfer of the culture” topic

Milan Kundera (1929-2023) was one of the most prominent personalities of Czech literary life from the 1950’s onwards, and over time his works achieved worldwide success.

Born in Brno, he taught world literature at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, and in the 1960’s he contributed significantly to the intellectual shape of the so-called Prague Spring. Already his debut novel The Joke (1967) aroused interest abroad. When he was banned from publishing during the Normalization, he left to exile in France in 1975, where he continued his literary activities.

The author’s perhaps best-known novels, The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984) and Immortality (1990), were also written in France. Over time, Kundera began to write his works in French, was granted French citizenship, and settled permanently in Paris. His works have been published in more than 45 world languages and belong to the canon of world literature. Kundera’s works have outlived the death of their author and their current resonance in Czech society is evidenced by the opening of the Milan Kundera Library in Brno in 2023.