{"title":"Books by Milan Kundera","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780571378418","title":"A Kidnapped West","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA provocative and rousing insight into European politics from one of the world's greatest writers.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'One of his most powerful works.' \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A pan-European intellectual force.' \u003ci\u003eTimes\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn a moment of historic peril and uncertainty in mainland Europe, Milan Kundera makes the case for Central Europe as the nucleus of European values and as a lightning rod for its potential dangers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor the countries that make up this region where democracy is under continued threat from Russian oppression, language and culture play an active role in affirming national identity. And each of these countries – Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia – has been historically overlooked by the major powers of Western Europe. But Kundera cautions that this blindness puts Europe’s cultural and political independence at risk, a warning that feels increasingly relevant to our current moment, and our future.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57685831549301,"sku":"9780571393053","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":43128894292146,"sku":"9780571378418","price":10.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571393053.jpg?v=1792599036"},{"product_id":"9780571227495","title":"The Art of the Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA classic of literary criticism from one of the world's greatest novelists and author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Unbearable Lightness of Being.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A great novelist who is also a great critic.' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCervantes, Joyce, Flaubert, Broch, Tolstoy, Kafka. What distinguishes the world and work of a truly great novelist? In these stunning philosophical reflections on the history, practice and morality of the novel, Kundera mines his personal experience as an author to argue that the European novel is 'an art born of the laughter of God'. Encompassing the role of historical events, the creation of character and the meaning of action in fiction, the result is a modern classic of literary criticism from one of the world's finest novelists - philosophical, playful and profound.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201729134770,"sku":"9780571227495","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571227495_58dc982e-61a1-463f-861b-a6f6857d89aa.jpg?v=1786013730"},{"product_id":"9780571174379","title":"The Book of Laughter and Forgetting","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A masterpiece' (Salman Rushdie) by the author of modern classic \u003ci\u003eThe Unbearable Lightness of Being.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'It took the temperature of the age as no other book did. It was the great novel of the end of European Communism: a novel of ideas and eroticism, the surreal and the naturalistic.' \u003cb\u003eHoward Jacobson\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'One is torn between profound pleasure in the novel's execution and wonder at the pain that inspired it.' \u003cb\u003eIan McEwan \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne freezing day in 1948, Klement Gottwald addresses Prague, wearing his comrade Clementis' fur cap - and Communist Czechoslovakia is born. But after being hanged for treason, Clementis is airbrushed out of propaganda photographs. All that remains is a bare wall, and his cap. So begins an unforgettable voyage through seven narratives, interspersed with luminous meditations on politics, philosophy, music and history.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA dissident seeks his first lover - now a Party loyalist - to persuade her to return his romantic letters. A married couple manages their ménage-à-trois as Mother moves in. A clandestine horoscope writer is questioned. An émigré widow struggles to reconstruct memories of her late husband, before finding herself on an island of children. A butcher's wife embarks on an affair with a poetic student. And one man prepares to cross the border . . . \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhat readers are saying:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Kundera embrace politics, sex, philosophy and history, with a seen-it-all cynicism that nevertheless manages to be fascinating and even uplifting ... It was addictive and fun, sexy and cool, easy to read, and made me feel brighter, switched on, and more alive.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'You must read this novel. Can't tell you about it, you just have to do it yourself. Its bonkers-brilliant! Phantasmagoric originality like this comes very seldom in a reader's so-sweet life.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Kundera's unique writing style comes as a revelation ...  This holds a special place in my reading history as the one book that I instantly began re-reading as soon as I finished it.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Absolutely enchanted me. It's such an unique novel. It speaks of so many things, from communism and regimes to love and art. For me personally, it is a perfect book.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'I am not going to spoil the story here, but while the story is not supernatural in any way, it takes on a fantastical flavor, full of mysteries and strange emotions ... It is obvious that Kundera has thought a lot about life, about the meaning of life, and lets the reader in on his secrets.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Such a unique writer, Kundera! What a way he has to shine the brightest light on the deepest corners of human psyche.'\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201797128370,"sku":"9780571174379","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571174379.jpg?v=1786013406"},{"product_id":"9780571179435","title":"Slowness","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA heady, existential tale of seduction and romance by the author of modern classic \u003ci\u003eThe Unbearable Lightness of Being\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'An artist, clearly one of the best to be found anywhere.' \u003c\/b\u003eSalman Rushdie\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Kundera designs fictions of the highest order.' \u003c\/b\u003eIan McEwan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Audacity, wit and sheer brilliance.' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn a French château on a midsummer's night, two tales of seduction entwine, separated in time by over two hundred years, but united in their quest for sensual pleasure. Through their romantic endeavors, a contemporary holidaymaker and eighteenth-century chevalier illustrate our era's obsession with the vulgar demon of speed - and the phenomenon of the dancer. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOscillating between the sublime and ridiculous, the historic and the modern, Kundera's first novel written in French is an enchanting libertine fantasy, radiant with intelligence and wisdom.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201797259442,"sku":"9780571179435","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571179435.jpg?v=1786033221"},{"product_id":"9780571195671","title":"Identity","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA philosophical masterpiece by the author of modern classic \u003ci\u003eThe Unbearable Lightness of Being\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'An artist, clearly one of the best to be found anywhere.'\u003c\/b\u003e Salman Rushdie\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Kundera designs fictions of the highest order.' \u003c\/b\u003eIan McEwan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChantal awaits her partner in a hotel on the Normandy coast, struggling to find him on a crowded beach. After mistaking him for a stranger, they reunite, and she reveals her fears of men no longer turning to look at her. Soon, she begins to receive mysterious love letters, which she hides in her underwear drawer - but as the border between fantasy and reality blurs, perhaps the secret correspondent is someone closer to her than she realises?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this disquieting love story, Kundera reveals our shifting perceptions of selfhood over time, especially within the intimacy of a relationship - and makes us question our own existence.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201801912498,"sku":"9780571195671","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571195671_2efa9ea7-a6b2-492a-9d1f-49d3c60930d2.jpg?v=1786013468"},{"product_id":"9780571215515","title":"Ignorance","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe bestselling masterpiece tale of love and exile in Prague by the author of modern classic \u003ci\u003eThe Unbearable Lightness of Being\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'An artist, clearly one of the best to be found anywhere.' \u003c\/b\u003eSalman Rushdie\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Kundera designs fictions of the highest order.' \u003c\/b\u003eIan McEwan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A subtle, penetrating and deeply felt exploration of the sadness, loneliness and irreparable loss of exile: one of [Kundera's] best novels.' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIrena has been exiled to Paris since leaving Czechoslovakia after the crushing of the Prague Spring in 1968. Twenty years later, after the collapse of Communism, she returns to her homeland - and reunites, by chance, with Josef, a fellow émigré and her one-time lover. Will they pick up the thread of their strange love story, interrupted in their native land almost as soon as it began - now lost in the tides of history, far from home? Or do their memories no longer align? \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA profound, polyphonic meditation on absence and alienation, nostalgia and truth, \u003ci\u003eIgnorance \u003c\/i\u003eis a masterpiece exposing the reality behind the romance of the homeward voyage.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201802272946,"sku":"9780571215515","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571215515_8576e095-cfac-4d47-ae8e-20f5438aad8c.jpg?v=1786013577"},{"product_id":"9780571316496","title":"The Festival of Insignificance","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe last novel by the international superstar and author of \u003ci\u003eThe Unbearable Lightness of Being.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Kundera is the saddest, funniest, and most lovable of authors.' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eTimes\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn artist, clearly one of the best to be found anywhere.'\u003c\/b\u003e Salman Rushdie\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Kundera designs fictions of the highest order.' \u003c\/b\u003eIan McEwan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCasting light on the most serious of problems and at the same time saying not one serious sentence; being fascinated by the reality of the contemporary world and at the same time avoiding realism - that's The Festival of Insignificance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn Kundera's earlier novel, \u003ci\u003eSlowness\u003c\/i\u003e, Vera, the author's wife, says to her husband: 'you've often told me you meant to write a book one day that would have not a single serious word in it . . . I warn you: watch out. Your enemies are lying in wait.' Far from watching out, Kundera finally and fully realises his old aesthetic dream in a novel that we could view as a summation of his whole work. A strange sort of summation. Strange sort of epilogue. Strange sort of laughter, inspired by our era, which is comical because it has lost all sense of humor. What more can we say of Kundera's last novel? Nothing. Just read.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201806467250,"sku":"9780571316496","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571316496.jpg?v=1786014798"},{"product_id":"9780571135394","title":"The Unbearable Lightness of Being","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe bestselling modern classic for fans of Dostoyevsky's \u003ci\u003eWhite Nights\u003c\/i\u003e and Sabahattin Ali's\u003ci\u003eMadonna in a Fur Coat\u003c\/i\u003e: the iconic novel of love, angst and politics in communist Czechoslovakia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA young woman is in love with a successful surgeon: a man torn between his love for her and his womanising. His mistress, a free-spirited artist, lives her life as a series of betrayals, while her other lover stands to lose everything because of his noble qualities. In a world where lives are shaped by choices and events, and everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance and weight - and we feel 'the unbearable lightness of being'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKundera's classic provoked a whole generation, encompassing passion and philosophy, body and soul, the Prague Spring and modern America, political acts and private desires, comedy and tragedy - in fact, all of human existence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat readers are saying:\u003cbr\u003e'Some books change your mind, some change your heart, the very best change your whole world ... A mighty piece of work, that will shape your life forever.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'One of the best books I've ever read ... A book about love and life, full of surprises. Beautiful.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'This book is going to change your life ... It definitely leaves you with a hangover after you're done reading.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Kundera writes about love as if in a trance so the beauty of it is enchanting and dreamy ... Will stay with you.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Shamelessly clever ... Exhilaratingly subversive and funny.' \u003ci\u003eIndependent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A modern classic ... As relevant now as when it was first published. 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Marvellous.’ \u003c\/b\u003eSalman Rushdie\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKlima, a celebrated jazz trumpeter, learns that a young nurse with whom he spent one brief night at a fertility spa is pregnant - and she has decided he is the father.\u003cbr\u003eThus begins a whirlwind farce as he returns to the spa: an accelerating dance which unfolds over five madcap days, encompassing Klima's jealous wife, the nurse's equally jealous boyfriend, a fanatical gynaecologist, a rich American (at once Don Juan and saint) and an elderly political prisoner who is holding a farewell party before emigration.\u003cbr\u003ePosing serious philosophical questions with his inimitable blasphemous lightness, \u003ci\u003eFarewell Waltz \u003c\/i\u003eis perhaps the most purely entertaining of Kundera's novels, rich in black humour and profound human insights.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43399143456946,"sku":"9780571194711","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780571194711_a19e9cec-2182-45c5-bb65-cc6f29db79e4.jpg?v=1786013460"},{"product_id":"9780571144563","title":"Immortality","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestseller by the author of modern classic \u003ci\u003eThe Unbearable Lightness of Being.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Like all great writers, Kundera leaves indelible marks on his readers’ imaginations.' Salman Rushdie \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom a playful gesture between an old woman in a swimming pool and a youthful lifeguard springs the heroine of a novel: Agnès. In the course of her daily life - Saturday chores, saunas, lunch in the hectic Paris streets - memories arise of her dead father, an unexpected widower. Their conversations flood back, and Agnès realises that her secret inheritance was his way of granting her freedom. As she mentally revisits her childhood, from formative loves to her intense relationship with her sister, her past casts light on her present: her marriage, daughter, and eventual death.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eExploring identity and existence, eroticism and modernity - with cameos from Goethe, Dali, Hemingway, and beyond - \u003ci\u003eImmortality \u003c\/i\u003eilluminates the nature of selfhood with inimitable wit, grace and intellectual nimbleness.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A serial feast, a banquet for the brain.' \u003ci\u003eObserver\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A joy to read. 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