| ||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Trade in The Art of the Novel for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The classic of literary criticism from one of the world's greatest novelists.
In seven independent, but closely related chapters, Milan Kundera presents his personal conception of the European novel, which he describes as 'an art born of the laughter of God'.
'Invigoratingly suggestive . . . Kundera's map of the development of the European novel is outlined with the reckless brevity of the man who knows exactly what and where the salient points are.' London Review of Books
'Kundera is the saddest, funniest and most loveable of authors.' The Times
About the Author
The French-Czech novelist Milan Kundera was born in the Czech Republic and has lived in France since 1975.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The book takes the form of a series of interviews and essays; it is in these that Kundera discusses the modern novel. Kundera touches on topics such as those of humour, realism and kitsch: themes that run through out his work. In doing so Kundera provides an overview of English Literature theory, it is a theory grounding in historical works of great importance as proved by references and discussions of the work of artists such as fellow Czech writer Kafka and Shakespeare. If you enjoy discussions on the importance and meaning of the novel you will enjoy this work greatly, though as Kundera himself says "the world of theories is not my world. These are the reflections of a practioner."
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In these brilliant reflections Milan Kundera discusses fundamental characteristics of the novel, its history and its immorality.
The object of the novel is the enigma of the self (the subject) functioning in a world full of ambiguities, where all things human are relative.
History
Novelists, like Cervantes, examined the self through its actions, which (partly) revealed the nature of the self.
A new generation, like Flaubert, delved into the self's invisible interior life (dreams, the irrational) in order to reveal the self's secrets.
Joyce dissects painstakingly the present.
In fine, F. Kafka poses the ultimate question of what possibilities are left in a world where the external determinants become so overpowering that internal impulses no longer carry weight.
Radical autonomy
Kafka's novels are the masterful proofs of the radical autonomy of the novel. By creating an extreme and unrealized possibility of the human world, Kafka expressed things about our human condition which no social or political thought could ever tell.
Immorality
The novel is boundless freedom. It is not rational or based on verisimilitude.
Novelists should use this freedom to discover unrealized possibilities of the human world. A novelist who doesn't unveil a hitherto unknown segment of human existence is immoral.
These in depth meditations on one of the major components of human art are a must read for all lovers of world literature.
The object of the novel is the enigma of the self (the subject) functioning in a world full of ambiguities, where all things human are relative.
History
Novelists, like Cervantes, examined the self through its actions, which (partly) revealed the nature of the self.
A new generation, like Flaubert, delved into the self's invisible interior life (dreams, the irrational) in order to reveal the self's secrets.
Joyce dissects painstakingly the present.
In fine, F. Kafka poses the ultimate question of what possibilities are left in a world where the external determinants become so overpowering that internal impulses no longer carry weight.
Radical autonomy
Kafka's novels are the masterful proofs of the radical autonomy of the novel. By creating an extreme and unrealized possibility of the human world, Kafka expressed things about our human condition which no social or political thought could ever tell.
Immorality
The novel is boundless freedom. It is not rational or based on verisimilitude.
Novelists should use this freedom to discover unrealized possibilities of the human world. A novelist who doesn't unveil a hitherto unknown segment of human existence is immoral.
These in depth meditations on one of the major components of human art are a must read for all lovers of world literature.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Meditations on the art of the novel by one of the masters in the field: need any more be said?
OK, if you don't have a background in the theory of literature a few (but only a few) parts may go over your head. Generally, however, very accessible and, for anyone who enjoys his novels, highly recommended.
OK, if you don't have a background in the theory of literature a few (but only a few) parts may go over your head. Generally, however, very accessible and, for anyone who enjoys his novels, highly recommended.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
