Slowness: A Novel by Milan Kundera (English) Paperback Book

Description: Slowness by Milan Kundera From one of the most distinguished writers of modern times comes a libertine fantasy which is also a profound meditation on contemporary life. Ruminating on how the pleasures of slowness have disappeared in today's fast-paced, future-shocked world, Kundera explores the secret bond between slowness and memory and the connection between our era's desire to forget and the ways in which we have given ourselves over to the demon of speed. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description "Irresistible. . . . Slowness is an ode to sensuous leisure, to the enjoyment of pleasure rather than just the search for it." -- MirabellaMilan Kunderas lightest novel, a divertimento, an opera buffa, Slowness is also the first of this authors fictional works to have been written in French.Disconcerted and enchanted, the reader follows the narrator of Slowness through a midsummers night in which two tales of seduction, separated by more than two hundred years, interweave and oscillate between the sublime and the comic. Underlying this libertine fantasy is a profound meditation on contemporary life: about the secret bond between slowness and memory, about the connection between our eras desire to forget and the way we have given ourselves over to the demon of speed. And about "dancers" possessed by the passion to be seen, for whom life is merely a perpetual show emptied of every intimacy and every joy. Author Biography The Franco-Czech novelist Milan Kundera (1929 - 2023) was born in Brno and lived in France, his second homeland, since 1975. He is the author of the novels The Joke, Life Is Elsewhere, Farewell Waltz, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and Immortality, and the short story collection Laughable Loves--all originally in Czech. His later novels, Slowness, Identity, Ignorance, and The Festival of Insignificance, as well as his nonfiction works, The Art of the Novel, Testaments Betrayed, The Curtain, and Encounter, were originally written in French. Review "Irresistible. . . . Slowness is an ode to sensuous leisure, to the enjoyment of pleasure rather than just the search for it." -- Mirabella"Audacity, wit, and sheer brilliance." -- New York Times Book Review"Paradoxically, Slowness. . . is the fastest paced of Kunderas novels as well as the most accessible." -- Boston Globe Description for Teachers/Educators From one of the most distinguished writers of 20th century fiction comes a libertine fantasy which is also a profound meditation on contemporary life. aTwo tales of seduction, separated by more than two hundred years, interweave and oscillate between the sublime and the comic in this, Milan Kunderas lightest novel. In the 18th century, the marvelous Madame de T. summons a young nobleman to her chateau and gives him an unforgettable lesson in the art of seduction and the pleasures of love. In the same chateau at the end of the 20th century, a hapless intellectual experiences a rather less successful night. Distracted by his desire to be the center of attention at a convention of entomologists, Vincent misses the opportunity to be with a beautiful stranger and suffers the ridicule of his peers.aA -morning-after encounter between the two men brings the novel to a poignant close and provides a unique insight into the different mind-sets of the two centuries. As Vincent prepares to speed off on his motorcycle, he has already obliterated the memory of his humiliation. The young nobleman, on the other hand, relives the delicious pleasures of the night as he lies back on the cushions of his carriage.aRuminating on how the pleasures of slowness have disappeared in todays fast-paced, future-shocked world, Kundera explores the secret bond between slowness and memory and the connection between our eras desire to forget and the way we have given ourselves over to the demon of speed. Details ISBN0060928417 Author Milan Kundera Short Title SLOWNESS Language English Translator Linda Asher ISBN-10 0060928417 ISBN-13 9780060928414 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY FIC Year 1997 Residence Paris, FR Birth 1929 Pages 176 Subtitle A Novel DOI 10.1604/9780060928414 Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 1997-04-11 NZ Release Date 1997-04-11 US Release Date 1997-04-11 UK Release Date 1997-04-11 Publisher HarperCollins Publishers Inc Publication Date 1997-04-11 Imprint HarperCollins Publishers Audience General Imprint US Harper Perennial Publisher US HarperCollins We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:168132936;

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