THE UNBEARABLE

LIGHTNESS OF
BEING
Novel by Milan Kundera
 BRIEF HISTORY OF
FRANCE
 The Great Depression in France started in about 1931 and lasted
through the remainder of the decade. The crisis started in France a
bit later than other countries
 In 1929, France seemed an island of prosperity for three reasons.
1.it was traditionally wary of trusts and big companies. 2. the
French invested little on the stock exchange and put their
confidence into gold, which was a currency of refuge during the
crisis of 1929.
3. French investments abroad were numerous.
 BRIEF HISTORY OF
FRANCE
 France, Europe's most vibrant economy in the 1920es,
experienced the effects of the GREAT DEPRESSION rather
late, unemployment figures rising sharply only in 1931 and
1932.
 The STAVISKY AFFAIR of 1934, a financial scandal
involving political figures, only gave legitimation to critics
from the opposition of the far left and far right. About 2,000
protesters threatening to molest French parliamentarians were
injured by police, 15 killed.
BRIEF HISTORY OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA
 In 1618, the Czech estates took courage and vented their
ire on the emperor reigning in Vienna by pitching two of
his high officials out of a window in the Prague Castle.
Their defiance led to the Thirty Years War, which in turn
led to the almost complete destruction of the Czech
nation.
BRIEF HISTORY OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA
 Czechoslovakia -was a sovereign state in Central Europe
 created in 1918, when it declared its independence from
Austria-Hungary.
 In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland
became part of Germany, while the country lost further
territories to Hungary and Poland.
 BRIEF HISTORY OF
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Czechoslovakia, capital was Prague
 was formed from several provinces of the collapsing empire of
Austria-Hungary in 1918, at the end of World War I.
 Munich Agreement, (September 30, 1938), settlement reached by
Germany, Great Britain, France, and Italy that permitted German
annexation of the Sudetenland, in western Czechoslovakia.
 BRIEF HISTORY OF
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
By May 1938 it was known that Hitler and his
generals were drawing up a plan for the
occupation of Czechoslovakia. The
Czechoslovaks were relying on military
assistance from France, with which they had an
alliance.
 BRIEF HISTORY OF
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
 On April 28–29, 1938, Daladier met with British Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain in London to discuss the situation.
Chamberlain, unable to see how Hitler could be prevented from
destroying Czechoslovakia altogether if such were his intention
(which Chamberlain doubted), argued that Prague should be urged
to make territorial concessions to Germany.
BRIEF BACKGROUND OF
THE AUTHOR
 BRIEF BACKGROUND OF
THE AUTHOR
Milan Kundera is a Czech writer who went into exile in France in 1975,
becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1981. Kundera's Czechoslovak
citizenship was revoked in 1979, then conferred again in 2019.
Born: April 1, 1929 (age 93 years), Brno, Czechia
Influenced by: Franz Kafka, Friedrich Nietzsche, MORE
Awards: Prix mondial Cino Del Duca, MORE
Spouse: Věra Hrabánková
Nationality: Czech, Czechoslovak, French
 BRIEF BACKGROUND OF
THE AUTHOR
 He studied film at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Prague,
where he later held a position as assistant professor from 1958 to 1969. He
was a member of the central committee of the Czechoslovak Writers Union
from 1963 to 1969.
 1968 known as the "Prague Spring," the government eased restrictions on
its writers and citizens. During this time, Kundera's books and plays were
banned, and his works could not be sold in bookstores or read in libraries.
 In 1975 Kundera received permission to immigrate to France, where he
became a professor.
 SYNOPSIS
The novel pivots on Tomas, a surgeon and serial adulterer who
embraces “lightness.” He is willfully free of all heaviness, shunning
labels and ideals, and he justifies his physical unfaithfulness (mere sex)
on the basis of his emotional faithfulness (his love for his wife). One of
his mistresses, Sabina, a free-spirited artist whose sexual obsession rivals
Tomas’s, takes lightness to an extreme, betraying others with her
complete lack of commitment. On the other hand, Tomas’s wife, Tereza,
is heaviness personified and has given herself, body and soul, to her
husband. Her love is a binding thing—not bad, just heavy. She also has
fervent political ideals, whereas Tomas is held down by none.
 SYNOPSIS
When the Soviet tanks roll in to crush the Prague Spring, Sabina,
Tomas, and Tereza flee to Switzerland. But Tereza decides to return,
leaving Tomas to make a choice. He accepts heaviness and follows
her to certain persecution, unwilling to be a pawn of either the
communists or the insurgents. The couple ultimately lives a quiet life
in the country until both are killed in a car accident. In the meantime
Sabina abandons her earnest lover, Franz, after he leaves his wife for
her. Sabina later moves to the United States and seems condemned
by her never-ending betrayals. Franz continues to love her up until
his death.
 SETTING
 Prague in the Late 1960s to early
1980s; detours to Paris, Geneva,
Zurich, New York, and California
 CHARACTERS
 Tomas- Tomas
The chief protagonist of the novel, a brilliant Prague surgeon and
intellectual. Having divorced early and lost contact with his ex-wife and
son, Tomas is a light-hearted womanizer who lives for his work as actor.
Tomas is "light," a libertine.
 Franz-A Geneva professor and idealist. Sabina's lover. Franz falls in
love with Sabina, whom he (erroneously) considers a liberal and
romantically tragic Czech dissident.
 CHARACTERS
 Tereza- Tomas's young wife. Tereza worships books, culture, and
kindness. Identifying Tomas as a kindred spirit and outsider, she falls
in love instantly and permanently.
 Sabina-Tomas's favorite mistress and closest friend. A talented painter.
Sabina betrays, successively, her father's home, her art school, her
lovers, and ultimately her country.
PERSONA(NARRATOR OF THE
STORY)

Milan Kundera
 POINT OF VIEW
Third Person (Peripheral Narrator)
The narrator refers to himself in the third person,
initially suggesting that he is a character, if a
peripheral one, in the story.
 CONFLICTS
Man versus himself-the struggle for a sense of cultural identity is also
the struggle for oneself.
-characters struggle to control their own identities,
Masculinity versus femininity - The huge difference in how society
regards the genders implies that men will always have the edge over
women because society is on their side.
Both the men’s society take it as something normal act among men and
should never be seen as a problem at all since it is not strange in their
nature
 SYMBOLISM
 Dreams –represents an important source of insight about the
characters’ personalities and motives
 Love and Sex- each of the four main characters confronts and wrestles
with the notion of love.
 Tereza’s Suitcase- symbolizes her devotion and to love and deep
emotional connections
 Books- symbolize a secret brotherhood
 Sabina’s Black Bowler Hat- symbolizes
 THEMES
 Lightness, Weight, and Dichotomies-The heaviness implied in
Nietzsche’s understanding of eternal return makes the concept appear
“unbearable” and negative.
 Sex, Love, and Duality of Body and Soul
Tereza-the bodily act of sex cannot be extricated from love, an emotion
that is rooted deep in the soul.
Tomas believes that “love does not make itself felt in the desire for
copulation (a desire that extends to an infinite number of women) but in
the desire for shared sleep (a desire limited to one woman).”
 THEMES
Time, Happiness, and Eternal Return
 If life and everything in it are on a continuous loop, Kundera
asserts, then “the weight of unbearable responsibility lies heavy
on every move we make.”
 While Kundera rejects the idea of eternal return, he also draws a
parallel between cyclical time and “the idyll,” or true happiness,
which suggests that a cyclical existence is the only way to
achieve real happiness.
 RELEVANCE TO THE 21 CENTURY ST
 According to Family Process, infidelity occurs in one out of
four marriages. However, depending on the way infidelity is
defined within a marriage, that number can easily shoot up
to as high as 50% (via research published in The Journal of
Sex Research).
 Kim Kardashian 'Had Some Trust Issues' with Kanye West
During Their Marriage
 Marilyn Monroe's Alleged Affairs with JFK and Brother
Bobby
 RELEVANCE TO THE 21 CENTURY ST

 Another cheating scandal that made waves involved Kristen Stewart,

whose romance with Robert Pattinson‘s romance hit a roadblock when
photos surfaced in July 2012 of the actress and director Rupert Sanders
packing on the PDA.
 Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo cheating scandal.
 Just days after the Maroon 5 singer's wife confirmed she was expecting
their third child in September 2022, Instagram model Sumner Stroh
posted a TikTok video claiming she'd had an affair with Levine that lasted
"for about a year."
 RELEVANCE TO THE 21 CENTURY ST

 Another cheating scandal that made waves involved Kristen Stewart,

whose romance with Robert Pattinson‘s romance hit a roadblock when
photos surfaced in July 2012 of the actress and director Rupert Sanders
packing on the PDA.
 Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo
 Just days after the Maroon 5 singer's wife confirmed she was expecting
their third child in September 2022, Instagram model Sumner Stroh
posted a TikTok video claiming she'd had an affair with Levine that lasted
"for about a year."
 RELEVANCE TO THE 21 CENTURY ST

 Another cheating scandal that made waves involved Kristen Stewart,

whose romance with Robert Pattinson‘s romance hit a roadblock when
photos surfaced in July 2012 of the actress and director Rupert Sanders
packing on the PDA.
 Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo
 Just days after the Maroon 5 singer's wife confirmed she was expecting
their third child in September 2022, Instagram model Sumner Stroh
posted a TikTok video claiming she'd had an affair with Levine that lasted
"for about a year."
 REFERENCES
 https://www.glam.com/1097669/infidelity-versus-adultery-whats-the-d
ifference/?utm_campaign=clip
 https://www.cram.com/essay/The-Unbearable-Lightness-Of-Night-An
alysis/PCYQJ3DXVR
 https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/unbearablelightness/characters/
 https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Unbearable-Lightness-of-
Being-novel-by-Kundera
 GOD BLESS EVERYONE!
Thank You for Listening!