Immortality


Milan Kundara is one of my favorite authors. Recently, i picked up his novel Immortality, and completed it a few days later. Like Nabokov, Kundara is a "post-modern" novelist, in the sense that he doesn't always follow the strict pattern of narrative story in his novels. Instead, his books read like part story, part thought-provoking essay.

Immortality starts with a gesture, and explores the individuality, or lack thereof, of individuals, and their quest for immortality. Mixed in with his normal exploration of couples and love and sex, this was somewhat an extension of his previous, more well-known novel, The Unbearable Likeness of Being.

Excellent prose, thought-provoking themes; one thread I especially liked was his observation that the world today is driven more by image than principal. We're all controlled by the "imagealogues", using Kundara's coined phrase. Sound bites, not statemanship, that's what drives our politicians today, of both party persuasions. And I see it in personal and business life too ... image rules.

If you want to have an enjoyable read, pick up most any Kundara book. Have fun!

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Posted: Tue - November 2, 2004 at 06:15 PM

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