The Unbearable Lightness of Being

  • Autor: Milan Kundera
  • Narrador: Richmond Hoxie
  • Editora: HarperCollins USA
  • Duração: 9:36:06
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Sinopse

When The Unbearable Lightness of Being was first published in English, it was hailed as "a work of the boldest mastery, originality, and richness" by critic Elizabeth Hardwick and named one of the best books of 1984 by the New York Times Book Review. It went on to win the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction and quickly became an international bestseller. Twenty years later, the novel has established itself as a modern classic. To commemorate the anniversary of its first English-language publication, HarperCollins is proud to offer a special hardcover edition.

A young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing; one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover -- these are the two couples whose story is told in this masterful novel.

Controlled by day, Tereza's jealousy awakens by night, transformed into ineffably sad death-dreams, while Tomas, a successful surgeon, alternates loving devotion to the dependent Tereza with the ardent pursuit of other women. Sabina, an independent, free-spirited artist, lives her life as a series of betrayals -- of parents, husband, country, love itself -- whereas her lover, the intellectual Franz, loses all because of his earnest goodness and fidelity.

In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. Hence we feel, says the novelist, "the unbearable lightness of being" -- not only as the consequence of our private acts but also in the public sphere, and the two inevitably intertwine.

This magnificent novel encompasses the extremes of comedy and tragedy, and embraces, it seems, all aspects of human existence. It juxtaposes geographically distant places (Prague, Geneva, Paris, Thailand, the United States, a forlorn Bohemian village); brilliant and playful reflections (on "eternal return," on kitsch, on man and animals -- Tomas and Tereza have a beloved doe named Karenin); and a variety of styles (from the farcical to the elegiac) to take its place as perhaps the major achievement of one of the world's truly great writers.

Capítulos

  • Chapter 041

    Duração: 02min
  • Chapter 042

    Duração: 03min
  • Chapter 043

    Duração: 03min
  • Chapter 044

    Duração: 03min
  • Chapter 045

    Duração: 03min
  • Chapter 046

    Duração: 02min
  • Chapter 047

    Duração: 01min
  • Chapter 048

    Duração: 10min
  • Chapter 049

    Duração: 06min
  • Chapter 050

    Duração: 03min
  • Chapter 051

    Duração: 03min
  • Chapter 052

    Duração: 04min
  • Chapter 053

    Duração: 02min
  • Chapter 054

    Duração: 06min
  • Chapter 055

    Duração: 04min
  • Chapter 056

    Duração: 02min
  • Chapter 057

    Duração: 03min
  • Chapter 058

    Duração: 01min
  • Chapter 059

    Duração: 07min
  • Chapter 060

    Duração: 05min
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