生命不能承受之轻英文书评.docVIP

Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera - review People usually complain about there is too much pressure in life which they can hardly bear. However, Milan Kundera, a Czech and French writer with profound thoughts, showed us that lightness, which means irresponsibility, was the most unbearable thing in our life in Unbearable Lightness of Being. In this novel, he made an effort to discuss some deeply philosophical problems, including the difference between sex and love, the attitudes toward life and so on. Milan Kundera explored the artistic and intellectual life of Czech society from the Prague Spring to the Soviet Union’s invasion in 1968 in this book. At the beginning of novel, Milan Kundera showed his own thinking toward being by explaining Nietzsche saying Eternal return is the heaviest burden. With the discussion of “lightness and heaviness” in life, the book mainly told us the love story between Thomas and Teresa during wartime. Because of the true love for Thomas, the responsibility to family and country, Teresa couldn’t put up with Thomas’s illegal love affairs and finally chose to leave Thomas. After that, Thomas, a playboy, still had to deal with his mistresses, trying to get out of the loss of Teresa. However, this “relaxing” life, which can be regarded as a kind of lightness of being, couldn’t make Thomas feel well. Story tries to tell us the meaning of being is responsibility by the comparison and contrast of main characters’ attitudes toward life, and makes us consider some deeply philosophical problems. This is a profound book with a prefect fusion of romanticism and realism. The social and living conditions after Prague Spring can be obtained and people’s thoughts toward life after invasion were truly expressed. As the greatest work in literature in 20th century, Unbearable Lightness of Being has been widely appreciated nowadays, and its literary and philosophical contribution won’t be ignored.