Key takeaways:
- Milan Kundera, renowned Czech author and dissident, died in Paris at the age of 94
- His works explored themes of love, exile, politics and the deeply personal
- His novel “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” is considered one of his best works, and his works have been translated into more than 40 languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide
PARIS (AP) — Milan Kundera, the renowned Czech author and dissident who wrote the acclaimed novel “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” has died in Paris at the age of 94, Czech media said Wednesday.
Kundera was born in 1929 in Brno, Czechoslovakia, and was a major figure in the Czech literary scene in the 1960s. His works, which often explored themes of love, exile, politics and the deeply personal, won him critical acclaim and a wide readership among Westerners.
Kundera’s novel “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” is considered one of his best works. It opens with Soviet tanks rolling through Prague, the Czech capital that was the author’s home until he moved to France in 1975. The novel weaves together themes of love and exile, politics and the deeply personal, and earned Kundera a wide readership among Westerners who embraced both his anti-Soviet subversion and the eroticism threaded through many of his works.
Kundera’s works have been translated into more than 40 languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide. He was awarded the prestigious Jerusalem Prize in 2000 for his contribution to literature.
Kundera is survived by his wife Vera Hrabankova, whom he married in 1975. He is remembered as a major figure in Czech literature and a powerful voice against totalitarianism.
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