"Farewell to the Waltz" -- A Series of Works by Milan Kundera

Author: Milan Kundera (translated by Yu Zhongxian)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: In a sense, this book can almost be called the author's most cherished novel. Like The Laughing Love, the author found it incredibly amusing to write, more so than when working on other novels. It represents a different state of mind. Great European novels are a form of diversion, and all true novelists cherish this aspect! Yet, diversion does not exclude gravity. In this book, the author grapples with a question: Are humans worthy of surviving on Earth? Shouldn't we "free the Earth from the claws of humanity"? Combining exceptionally heavy themes with exceptionally light forms has always been the author's ambition. This is not merely an artistic ambition. The juxtaposition of light forms and heavy themes reveals the utter meaninglessness of our human drama—everything that unfolds in our beds is no different from the performances we put on on the historical stage—and to an alarming degree.