Kundera : d’une Europe l’autre

Abstract

If there is one writer who has crystallized the recent history of the Old World, Milan Kundera appears as one the most imposing characters in contemporary literature. As a scion of Eastern European identity, he speaks for a Europe resting on cultural paradigms, remote from the operational theater of a European Union, engulfed in its bureaucratic meanders. Thus, he pleads for an Eastern Europe paired to its Western counterpart, through a poignant novel, “The Joke”, which resonates like a European hymn where laughter and humor are used as powerful antidotes to the imperialistic desires of Russia. His article published in 1983 in Le Débat, turns out to be a formidable European plea against the Russian attempt to subdue Eastern Europe under its authority. In a word, Kundera incarnates the saving breath of a Europe unwilling to die.

Keywords

• Kundera
• Europe
• identity
• culture
• civilization