The Unbearable Lightness of Being Day Three: Words Misunderstood

Please post a question about "Words Misunderstood," Book 3, which divides its sympathies between Franz, Sabina and the narrator. Make sure to keep up your motif log for group discussion. On Tuesday you'll meet with your group members to share your individual findings.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Day 2 / Part 2

In today's class, we explored the narrator's philosophical framing of the novel between Nietzsche, Parmenides, and Beethoven; chance, fate, and eternal recurrence; lightness and weight; emotional non-attachment and the ethical burden of the Other.

We also began to discuss eternal recurrence as a philosophical idea and as a structural principle of the novel...which brought us to the motif. Since Thursday you'll be meeting for the first time in your motif groups, try creatively appropriating this blog entry to send messages to the other members of your "secret brotherhood" of the book (to borrow a turn-of-phrase from Kundera). Otherwise just use your question as usual.

And remember to read the supplementary text by Kundera, "Dialogue in the Art of the Novel."

Now here is a picture of Tereza and Tomas at their neediest and therefore most beautiful. 

_The Unbearable Lightness of Being_ Day One!

Milan Kundera's novel is self-consciously constructed according to the presence of motifs, so feel free to start tracking some of them in Book 1, as we will do in groups for the rest of the session. Otherwise post discussion questions as usual. This book is rich not just in motifs but in metaphors and literary allusions, as well as ideas about art, history, and life. Enjoy!