Czech-born French writer, Milan Kundera breathes his last at 94

Milan Kundera, the Czech-born French writer, has recently passed away in Paris at the age of 94, reported Czech media.

Anna Mrazova, the spokeswoman of the Moravian Library, which contains the author’s entire archive following his donation of it in 2020, confirmed the sad news, adding, “It’s a great loss.”

Born in Czechoslovakia in 1929, Milan was a dissident who was expelled multiple times from the Communist party for his rebellious views and “anti-party activities”.

In 1975, the late writer was sent into exile in France and later he got his citizenship in 1981 while giving up his Czechoslovak citizenship back in 1979.

He was best known for two Czech-language works of fiction, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (1979) and The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), that was based on themes of exile, memory and the difficulties of love and compassion amid the turbulent politics of 1960s and 1970s Czechoslovakia.

Milan also became an international sensation after the publication of The Unbearable Lightness of Being which was later adapted into a movie in 1988 starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin.

It is pertinent to mention that the movie was nominated for two Oscars and also earned Philip Kaufman a BAFTA win for best adapted screenplay.

Meanwhile, the late author also expressed his surprise at the book’s popularity.

For the unversed, Milan withdrew from public life, saying he had taken “an overdose of myself” and sought “a miraculous ointment that would make me invisible.”

Back in 2009, Milan was invited to an international conference for his published work, he declined by letter, describing the event as a “necrophile party”.