The foreign reactions to the book are different, the second edition of which appeared on the shelves of bookstores in French-speaking areas in 2018, literally in the form of an essay by the Frenchman François Ricardo. The essay, much to Kundera’s literary critic François Ricard, called Insignificance is a Celebration. Responses to the book range from praise, minor reservations, through criticism not taking napkins, to expressing respect for the work of a deserving novelist.
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France Culture appears in the book “a piece of the Slavic soul, translated into French”. The author celebrates insignificance in such a way that his novel is not actually a celebration.
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The Canadian newspaper La Presse, published in Montreal, published a review entitled Celebration of Insignificance: Twilight of Jokes. It reads: “Kundera rejects weight. This makes him flirt with insignificance. He warns of the dangers of seriousness, if we do not know whether insignificance or seriousness is more tragic. “
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“We read the book at all speeds without realizing what it is all about. Compared to the classics of French literature, Kundera does not put the characters in context. Stalin is described as a great hero of truth, as he is the greatest assassin in history, “said the French literary review Babelio.
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A reviewer of the Frankfurter Allgemeine is clear: “This is not Kundera’s best book.” According to the Frankfurter Rundschau, “it smells of literature to old gentlemen. More today would not hurt her. “
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The Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung is not to praise either. “The actions of the ensemble of older gentlemen who are trying to escape their spleen through walks, conversations, celebrations and reflections on the woman’s navel – none of this will convince us of the quality of the novel. The characters are faded. Great themes like love or hate are so immersed in irony that we painfully miss Kundera’s former attempt to illuminate things. Although Kundera’s genius sometimes shines through here, the book is still just a convulsive old work, “says the reviewer.
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The Spanish daily El País finds in the book themes from the novels The Unbearable Lightness of Being and The Book of Laughter and Oblivion. The author reduces the topics to insignificance. “The novel is written as a sermon. Strict, but fortunately not teacher or apocalyptic. “
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The literary review El Placer de la Lectura evaluated the book as a synthesis of Kundera’s great themes, love, banality, the transience of life. “But for the Feast of Insignificance to be a real testament to the author, Kundera himself would certainly expect much more from it,” the evaluation said.
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