Thursday, May 31, 2007

a quotable:

"The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground. But in the love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body. The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life's most intense fulfillment. The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become."

-Milan Kundera in The Unbearable Lightness of Being

ashraf, i've decided to take this book on and leave frank for shorter reading periods... one or two digressions a day. the floating at on the cover of this book, and this quote, are egging on me to dive in. i'll let you know just how much i like it when i've finished it.

2 comments:

ozymandiaz said...

I don't know if that is "love" poetry or "romance" poetry. Aknin possibly to romance novels where the protagonist is "taken" by a stranger on the beach or in a meadow etc. Romanticized incursions which in real life would be traumatizing. Unless of course it is but an oppresive rendition of love that the writer is only familiar with. Renditions of a heavy handed male dominated society. As I recall, "Unbearable Likeness" is a dessertation of dissfunctional relationships.
Or am I reading too much into this?

arch.memory said...

I'm glad to see you're getting into Kundera. He has been (and perhaps for good reason) accused of being a misogynist. Still, I think there is enough insight and sensitivity in his writing to offset any such proclivities. And yes, it is about "dysfunctional relationships" (not like there is any other kind of relationship, really), amongst other things (such as life in Prague under communism). But I find the genius of it is in its premise (which is the title).