Milan Kundera

Czech writer. Born into a family of musicologists in Brno, he was familiar with music from an early age, and the influence of music is strongly reflected in his work. After graduating from the Department of Film at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Prague, he lectured world literature at the same university while working on his own creative endeavors, publishing experimental works in the genres of plays and novels. Around the time of the Prague Spring in 1968, as Secretary General of the Union of Czechoslovak Writers, he actively participated in the reform movement towards "socialism with a human face," resisting the "normalization" that was backed by Soviet tanks. At the same time, he had a disagreement and debate with fellow writer V. Havel (President of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992, President of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003) over the evaluation of reforms. In 1970, he was banned from publishing his works in the country as a dissident, and in 1975 he moved to France, where he continued his creative activities while teaching at a university. As a result, his works from the 1970s onwards were first published abroad, in France and Canada, but the original manuscripts were all written in Czech, and his position as a Czech author was clearly stated. However, in 1979 he was stripped of his Czech citizenship, and in 1981 he gained French citizenship, which gave the impression that he gradually began to distance himself from his home country, and he sometimes wrote his works in French. After the "Velvet Revolution" in 1989, many of his works were published in his home country, and they remain very popular.

His literary career began with the poetry collections "Man, this Wide Garden" (1953) and "Monologue" (1957), but he soon left his "lyrical age" and wrote the play "The Owner of the Key" (1963) and the collection of short stories "Love Stories to Make You Smile" (1963-1968), and his novel "The Joke" (1967) was highly acclaimed internationally as a masterpiece depicting the distortion of humanity under the socialist system. Most of his works are harsh portrayals of the conflict between ideals and reality in modern society, focusing on love and sex, but after moving to France, he wrote the novels "Life Beyond" (1973), "Farewell Waltz" (1976), "Book of Laughter and Forgetting" (1979), and "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (1984), which won him the Prix Medici award. In particular, his long novel "Immortality" (1989) is an allegorical work that combines various thoughts on human destiny, its demise and immortality. He has published many other works, including "Slowness" (1995), "The Real Me" (1998) and "Ignorance" (2001). He has also published critical works such as "The Technique of Novels" (1960, Japanese title: "The Spirit of Novels") and "Betrayed Testament" (1983), showing his extremely wide range of literary involvement and making him one of the most talked-about Czech writers.

[Shu Iijima]

"The Spirit of the Novel" translated by Kanai Yutaka (1990, Hosei University Press)" ▽ "Love Stories to Bring a Smile" translated by Chino Eiichi et al. (1992, Shueisha)" ▽ "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting" translated by Nishinaga Yoshinari (1992, Shueisha)" ▽ "The Farewell Waltz" translated by Nishinaga Yoshinari (1993, Shueisha)" ▽ "The Betrayed Will" translated by Nishinaga Yoshinari (1994, Shueisha)" ▽ "Slowness" translated by Nishinaga Yoshinari (1995, Shueisha)" ▽ "Jack and His Master" translated by Kondo Mari (1996, Misuzu Shobo)" ▽ "The Real Me" translated by Nishinaga Yoshinari (1997, Shueisha)" ▽ "Ignorance" translated by Nishinaga Yoshinari (2001, Shueisha)" ▽ "A Joke," translated by Sekine Hideo and Nakamura Takeshi (2002, Misuzu Shobo)" ▽ "Life Beyond," translated by Nishinaga Yoshinari (Hayakawa epi Bunko)" ▽ "The Unbearable Lightness of Being, translated by Chino Eiichi (Shueisha Bunko)" ▽ "Immortality, translated by Kanno Akimasa (Shueisha Bunko)" ▽ "The Obbligato of the Novel: Reading Milan Kundera," by Kudo Yoko (1996, University of Tokyo Press)" ▽ "The Thought of Milan Kundera," by Nishinaga Yoshinari (1998, Heibonsha)" ▽ "Milan Kundera and the Novel," by Akatsuka Wakaki (2000, Suiseisha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

チェコの作家。ブルノの音楽学者の家庭に生まれ、幼時から音楽に親しみ、その影響は作品上にも強く反映している。プラハの音楽芸術大学映画科を卒業後、同大学で世界文学を講じながら実作に取り組み、戯曲・小説などのジャンルで実験的作品を発表。1968年の「プラハの春」前後には、チェコスロバキア作家同盟書記長として「人間の顔をした社会主義」への改革運動に積極的に参加し、ソ連軍の戦車を背景とする「正常化」に抵抗。その一方、改革の評価などについて仲間だった作家のV・ハベル（1989～92チェコスロバキア大統領。93～2003チェコ大統領）と意見が対立、論争が行われた。1970年には反体制派として国内での作品発表を禁止され、75年フランスに移住、大学の教職につきながら創作活動を継続する。その結果、1970年以降の作品は国外、フランスやカナダでまず公刊されるようになったが、根本となる原稿はすべてチェコ語で書かれ、チェコの作者としての立場が鮮明であった。しかし、79年にはチェコの市民権を剥奪(はくだつ)され、81年にフランスの市民権を得たこともあって、しだいに祖国との距離を置き始めた感があり、作品もフランス語で書く場合がある。89年の「ビロード革命」以後は、本国でも多数の作品が出版され、人気は高い。

　文学的な出発は、詩集『人間、この広き庭園』（1953）、および『モノローグ』（1957）だったが、やがて「抒情(じょじょう)詩的年齢」を脱し、戯曲『鍵(かぎ)の所有者』（1963）、短編集『微笑を誘う愛の物語』（1963～1968）と進み、長編『冗談』（1967）は、社会主義体制下における人間性のゆがみを描いた傑作として、国際的に高い評価を受けた。その作品のほとんどは、現代社会での理想と現実の相克を愛と性を焦点にして辛辣(しんらつ)にえぐり出しているが、フランス移住後には、メディシス賞を受けた長編『生は彼方に』（1973）、『別れのワルツ』（1976）、『笑いと忘却の書』（1979）、『存在の耐えられない軽さ』（1984）などがある。とくに長編『不滅』（1989）は、人間の運命、その終焉(しゅうえん)と不滅性についてのさまざまな考察を複合したアレゴリカル（寓意(ぐうい)的）な作品である。さらに『緩やかさ』（1995）、『ほんとうの私』（1998）、『無知』（2001）と精力的に作品を発表している。なお、評論にも『小説の技法』（1960。邦題『小説の精神』）、『裏切られた遺言』（1983）などがあり、文学的関与の幅はきわめて広く、チェコの作家としてもっとも話題性に富んでいる。

［飯島　周］

『金井裕訳『小説の精神』（1990・法政大学出版局）』▽『千野栄一他訳『微笑を誘う愛の物語』（1992・集英社）』▽『西永良成訳『笑いと忘却の書』（1992・集英社）』▽『西永良成訳『別れのワルツ』（1993・集英社）』▽『西永良成訳『裏切られた遺言』（1994・集英社）』▽『西永良成訳『緩やかさ』（1995・集英社）』▽『近藤真理訳『ジャックとその主人』（1996・みすず書房）』▽『西永良成訳『ほんとうの私』（1997・集英社）』▽『西永良成訳『無知』（2001・集英社）』▽『関根日出男・中村猛訳『冗談』（2002・みすず書房）』▽『西永良成訳『生は彼方に』（ハヤカワepi文庫）』▽『千野栄一訳『存在の耐えられない軽さ』（集英社文庫）』▽『菅野昭正訳『不滅』（集英社文庫）』▽『工藤庸子著『小説というオブリガート――ミラン・クンデラを読む』（1996・東京大学出版会）』▽『西永良成著『ミラン・クンデラの思想』（1998・平凡社）』▽『赤塚若樹著『ミラン・クンデラと小説』（2000・水声社）』

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