Search query: milan kundera

Product: Tempest in a Teacup: My Homage to Milan Kundera and Leonard Cohen
Relevance: Exact
How does one exist in the world: do you live your life according to a single ideal or by trial-and-error, seeking a diverse spiral of experiences? This dichotomy plays out everywhere and especially in human relationships. In "Tempest in a Teacup" six characters, each with a different way of being—Destiny, Great Love, Power, Obligation, Pleasure, Beauty—come together in a series of events revolving around a corporate function. As the characters collide, the viability of each way is questioned in their alternating viewpoints. Each narrator is unreliable - but then which one of us is ever a reliable narrator?
The idea for this story was born out of "Dictionary of Misunderstood Words" in Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. From the day I first read him, I was fascinated with Kundera's characters representing different how-to-exist-in-the-world ideas. But as I tried to fill these existential characters with flesh and blood and guilt and longing and all the internal cracks that make us human, another influence crept in. I love Leonard Cohen's songs and poetry. I don't know anyone who expressed the pain and the healing power of our relationships as well as he did. On the surface, these two men couldn't be more different: a cool, humorous, almost rational dissection vs. broken, passionate, spiritual longing. And yet I saw more similarities than differences: from separate viewpoints, they shone a light on both our alienation and the grace of connections that eclipse our selves. They don't need my homage, but I wanted to thank these remarkable artists for giving me shelter and light when all other lights went out.
From the BlueInk review: "Bell's characters are genuinely enjoyable, and the themes - love, art, passion, identity - are thoughtfully and provocatively explored in a work that offers many rewards."

Product: L'insoutenable légèreté de l'être (French Edition)
Relevance: Exact
"Qu'est-il resté des agonisants du Cambodge ?
Une grande photo de la star américaine tenant dans ses bras un enfant jaune.
Qu'est-il resté de Tomas ?
Une inscription : Il voulait le Royaume de Dieu sur la terre.
Qu'est-il resté de Beethoven ?
Un homme morose à l'invraisemblable crinière, qui prononce d'une voix sombre : "Es muss sein !"
Qu'est-il resté de Franz ?
Une inscription : Après un long égarement, le retour.
Et ainsi de suite, et ainsi de suite. Avant d'être oubliés, nous serons changés en kitsch. Le kitsch, c'est la station de correspondance entre l'être et l'oubli."