Grim Reaper 186 Posted December 31, 2021 The Milan Kundera thread. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TQR 14,384 Posted January 1, 2022 I’m loathed to say it, and I might be slated for saying it, but WHOOOOooOoooooOoOooooOOooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooOooOooOoOoOOOOOOOoooOOOOoooOoOoOOOOOOoooOoOoOooOOOOOoooooooooOoOooooOOOOOOOoooOoooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooOoOoooOoOo?????????????? 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
msc 18,434 Posted January 1, 2022 2 minutes ago, TQR said: I’m loathed to say it, and I might be slated for saying it, but WHOOOOooOoooooOoOooooOOooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooOooOooOoOoOOOOOOOoooOOOOoooOoOoOOOOOOoooOoOoOooOOOOOoooooooooOoOooooOOOOOOOoooOoooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooOoOoooOoOo?????????????? You need to read more, mate. Not Kundera's book though as its fucking dull. Unbearable Lightness of Being. He's also got shitloads of heart issues, iirc. 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Philip 121 Posted January 1, 2022 He is on the list over Dennis Skinner, Glynis Johns and Russell Bishop Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SleepSerenity 13 Posted January 1, 2022 I remember reading the book of laughter and forgetting many years ago and I enjoyed it, but I don't remember much of it other than it being a compilation of short stories, a lot of political drama and weird sex scenes (one of which involved a man that smelled like gherkins). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Old Crem 3,580 Posted January 1, 2022 I can’t say I have ever heard of him outside a few passing mentions on here before. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Death Impends 7,953 Posted January 1, 2022 I remember him best as drol's author a couple years back, who he had inside info on that wasn't quite as dire as he thought. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
drol 11,906 Posted January 1, 2022 6 hours ago, Death Impends said: I remember him best as drol's author a couple years back, who he had inside info on that wasn't quite as dire as he thought. "Terminal heart failure". Probably has another meaning in France. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gcreptile 10,963 Posted January 12, 2022 Milan Kundera occupies the same place in my mind as Robert Pirsig does. Robert Pirsig was also a DeathList entry and wrote "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". For some reason, I have always assumed Milan Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" to be another Hippie / Beat generation classic, but now that I think about it, it isn't really the case? Anyway, I guess someone on the committee is big on literature and tries to push those "literary one-hit wonders" with their one "Must read" book. I've read neither though. Makes me wonder, who else might make the list eventually. Margaret Atwood? Alice Walker? Probably, eventually, Salman Rushdie. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
msc 18,434 Posted January 12, 2022 12 minutes ago, gcreptile said: Anyway, I guess someone on the committee is big on literature If they are, it rarely shows! You might like Zen, tbh, though it has a right downer ending. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bibliogryphon 9,569 Posted January 12, 2022 I would argue that Peter Ackroyd should be under consideration as well as Booker Prize winner Penelope Lively. I tend to have a Bookish theme team every year but Kundera was not on my radar If you look at my shadowlist in my signature there are at least 10 writers in there 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doulton 34 Posted January 12, 2022 I have a few authors I am watching: to the best of my knowledge none are ill....but they like to be secretive about their lives. In no special order: John Barth /. Thomas Pynchon. /. Charles Simic. / Robert Hass. /. William Kennedy / Henry Louis Gates. / Ann Beattie. /. Cormac McCarthy. /. Jay Wright. / Walter Abish. /. John Edgar Wideman / Frederick Barthelme / JM Coetzee Don DeLillo /. Mario Vargas Llosa. / Joyce Carol Oates. / Cynthia Ozick. /. John Irving. /. Richard Howard / Ishmael Reed / Paulo Coehlo Annie Proulx / I think the above should all qualify as famous and have Wiki pages. I'm sticking with the ones who are (I think) 70 or above. And I'm not looking at genre fiction. I agree with Bibliogryphon about the importance of Penelope Lively, Edna O'Brien, AS Byatt (and Margaret Drabble, younger but it seems regal that her sister), Alice Munro These people are unlikely to head any lists but I see them all as potential great supporting players. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bibliogryphon 9,569 Posted January 12, 2022 There are a number of more popular writers such as Len Deighton and Frederick Forsyth who would be worth watching and dare I say George RR Martin or Philip Pullman? 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grim Up North 3,725 Posted January 12, 2022 Jack Higgins 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doulton 34 Posted January 12, 2022 I know. I was trying to limit my list to the more obscure "literary" types who show up in the syllabus of graduate schools. I could add a lot of mystery/thriller/romance/ authors who have much higher recognition than Ishmael Reed or Jorie Graham. Danielle Steel, Dean Koontz, Jeffrey Archer, John Grisham are all alive (I don't know how old they are). 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Old Crem 3,580 Posted January 13, 2022 11 hours ago, gcreptile said: Milan Kundera occupies the same place in my mind as Robert Pirsig does. Robert Pirsig was also a DeathList entry and wrote "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". For some reason, I have always assumed Milan Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" to be another Hippie / Beat generation classic, but now that I think about it, it isn't really the case? Anyway, I guess someone on the committee is big on literature and tries to push those "literary one-hit wonders" with their one "Must read" book. I've read neither though. Makes me wonder, who else might make the list eventually. Margaret Atwood? Alice Walker? Probably, eventually, Salman Rushdie. Jaqueline Wilson is in declining health and was someone I did consider a few months ago adding to my Dames team but forgot about last month. But I can see her on the list perhaps. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy 1,684 Posted January 13, 2022 In 1989, I randomly chose a random passage from TULoB (played backwards like in that psychedelic Beatles song that Oasis borrowed their entire sound from) for the 'lyrics' of a song called Quicksand (which has nothing to do with the Bowie song). That's about as obscure a Kundera-related anecdote I can offer at this time. For the record, I enjoyed both Being and Zen, and yes, the odd committee member has read a book or two. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bibliogryphon 9,569 Posted January 13, 2022 This is one of the names where I knew of the book but did not know of the background of the writer and it sent me scurrying to do the research. Not on my radar but should have been. Other names like Durst were not on my radar and would probably not be unless someone in the Scavenger Hunt decided convicted murderers was a good category going forward (This is not a hint!!) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gcreptile 10,963 Posted January 13, 2022 1 hour ago, Bibliogryphon said: This is one of the names where I knew of the book but did not know of the background of the writer and it sent me scurrying to do the research. Not on my radar but should have been. Other names like Durst were not on my radar and would probably not be unless someone in the Scavenger Hunt decided convicted murderers was a good category going forward (This is not a hint!!) Heh, I like the idea. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
arghton 6,692 Posted April 3, 2022 https://www.klaus.cz/clanky/4903 Former Czech President Vaclav Klaus wished a happy 93rd for Kundera. Today, your husband, a great writer, the inspirer of many of us, Milan Kundera, is 93 years old. I know his health is not good, I wish it was the best he could. Knowing all the context, I say it's nice to be able to experience your husband's 93rd birthday. That we can wish him the greatest "ease of being", even though we know that being is not easy at all. And that we can thank you for taking care of him. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sean 6,309 Posted April 3, 2022 Looks like the committee will make a nice niche pick pay dividends again. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sean 6,309 Posted April 3, 2022 Is it true he has heart failure?Looked it up but couldn`t find anything. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
YorkshireBanker 168 Posted November 8, 2022 Should be replaced next year by an author who's work is more popular 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
arghton 6,692 Posted November 8, 2022 15 minutes ago, YorkshireBanker said: Should be replaced next year by an author who's work is more popular Strong disagree with the "replace" part* - Kundera is very ill judging on V. Klaus' comments from April, was allegedly already terminally ill a few years ago and should not be dropped. *Unless he dies before 2023, in which case I agree. Lynne Reid Banks doesn't look like the picture of health (below a picture from a couple of months ago), but as far as I know isn't ill. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites