In this novel - a story of irreconcilable loves and infidelities - Milan
Kundera addresses himself to the nature of twentieth-century 'Being' 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. 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. Juxtaposing Prague, Geneva, Thailand
and the United States, this masterly novel encompasses the extremes of comedy
and tragedy, and embraces, it seems, all aspects of human existence. It offers a
wide range of brilliant and amusing philosophical