dead Milan Kundera

[Grim Reaper 186]

The Milan Kundera thread.

[TQR 14,414]

I’m loathed to say it, and I might be slated for saying it, but

 

WHOOOOooOoooooOoOooooOOooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooOooOooOoOoOOOOOOOoooOOOOoooOoOoOOOOOOoooOoOoOooOOOOOoooooooooOoOooooOOOOOOOoooOoooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooOoOoooOoOo??????????????

[msc 18,490]

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.

[Philip 121]

He is on the list over Dennis Skinner, Glynis Johns and Russell Bishop

[SleepSerenity 13]

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).

[The Old Crem 3,611]

I can’t say I have ever heard of him outside a few passing mentions on here before. 

[Death Impends 8,010]

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.

[drol 12,014]

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.

[gcreptile 10,987]

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.

 

[msc 18,490]

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.

[Bibliogryphon 9,597]

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

[Doulton 34]

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.  

 

 

[Bibliogryphon 9,597]

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?

[Grim Up North 3,727]

Jack Higgins

[Doulton 34]

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).  

[The Old Crem 3,611]

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. 

[harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy 1,696]

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.

[Bibliogryphon 9,597]

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!!)

[gcreptile 10,987]

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.

[arghton 6,776]

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.

[Sean 6,340]

[Sean 6,340]

Looks like the committee will make a nice niche pick pay dividends again.

[Sean 6,340]

Is it true he has heart failure?Looked it up but couldn`t find anything.

[YorkshireBanker 168]

Should be replaced next year by an author who's work is more popular

 

[arghton 6,776]

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.