Kundera, ours is “A prisoner West”, his unpublished j’accuse all’Europe now published by Adelphi

(by Rossella Guadagnini) What Europe is and where its true borders reach we still ask ourselves today, many years after the events that brought the formation of the EU to completion. Which states may be part of it and which are not is, after all, a question that haunts not only rulers and peoples, but also writers and intellectuals. In 1983, for example, an intervention by Milan Kundera was intended to “reshape the mental map of Europe” before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The Czech author vehemently accuses the West of having witnessed inert the disappearance of its extreme edge, an essential cultural melting pot. He refers to Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, which belong to Europe and which, between 1956 and 1970, gave birth to great revolts, supported by the “union between culture and life, creation and people”. For the West, however, the three countries are nothing more than part of the so-called ‘Soviet bloc’. Kundera then expressed a “Central European vision of the world” which appears, today, even more precious and illuminating in the light of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Adelphi proposes it, who has all his titles in the catalog (since 1985) and has made them available – for the first time – also in ebooks. The unpublished work by the famous author, “A prisoner West”, which appeared last year in France, will be presented tonight. The appointment is for 6.30 pm at Feltrinelli Libri in Piazza Piemonte, with Fausto Malcovati and the translator of the volume, Giorgio Pinotti. Born in Brno (Czech Republic) in 1929, Kundera in Italy alone sells 3 million copies and was among the favorites for the Nobel Prize for Literature: he began as a poet (“Man is a big garden”, ’53; “Monologhi”, ’57), later gaining fame with the short stories “Amori ridicoli” (’63, ’64). As a playwright he made his debut in ’62 with “The owners of the keys”, set during the fascist occupation. His first novel, “Lo scherzo” (’67), is a satire of the Czechoslovakian reality in the years of the ‘cult of personality’. Due to his political positions, Kundera’s subsequent books – “Life is Elsewhere” (1973), “The Farewell Waltz” (1975), “The Book of Laughter and Oblivion” (1978) – were banned. at home and published only abroad. History, autobiography and sentimental plots come together in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), which made it known to an even wider audience. The 1987 essay” L’arte del novel “and” Immortality “. In the 90s, after moving to Paris, he began to write in French:” The slowness “(’95),” The identity “(’97), Ignorance belong to this phase (2001) and the essays “I testaments betrayed” (’92) and “The curtain” (Le rideau, ’05). “; from ’13” The feast of insignificance “, synthesis of his entire work. A strange synthesis with a curious epilogue, crossed by an unusual laughter, inspired by our age, ‘comic’ because it has lost or a sense of humor.