When The Unbearable Lightness of Being was first published in English,
it was hailed as "a work of the boldest mastery, originality, and
richness" by critic Elizabeth Hardwick and named one of the best books
of 1984 by the New York Times Book Review. It went on to win the Los
Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction and quickly became an
international bestseller. Twenty years later, the novel has established
itself as a modern classic. To commemorate the anniversary of its first
English-language publication, HarperCollins is proud to offer a special
hardcover edition.
A young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his
incorrigible womanizing; one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful
lover -- these are the two couples whose story is told in this masterful
novel.
Controlled by day, Tereza's jealousy awakens by night, transformed into
ineffably sad death-dreams, while Tomas, a successful surgeon,
alternates loving devotion to the dependent Tereza with the ardent
pursuit of other women. Sabina, an independent, free-spirited artist,
lives her life as a series of betrayals -- of parents, husband, country,
love itself -- whereas her lover, the intellectual Franz, loses all
because of his earnest goodness and fidelity.
In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by
fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once,
existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. Hence we feel, says
the novelist, "the unbearable lightness of being" -- not only as the
consequence of our private acts but also in the public sphere, and the
two inevitably intertwine.
This magnificent novel encompasses the extremes of comedy and tragedy,
and embraces, it seems, all aspects of human existence. It juxtaposes
geographically distant places (Prague, Geneva, Paris, Thailand, the
United States, a forlorn Bohemian village); brilliant and playful
reflections (on "eternal return," on kitsch, on man and animals -- Tomas
and Tereza have a beloved doe named Karenin); and a variety of styles
(from the farcical to the elegiac) to take its place as perhaps the
major achievement of one of the world's truly great writers.