false 26097 21 Two tales of seduction, separated by more than two hundred years, interweave and oscillate between the sublime and the comic in this, Milan Kundera's lightest novel. In the 18th century, the marvelous Madame de T. summons a young nobleman to her chamber and gives him an unforgettable lesson in the art of seduction and the pleasures of love. In the same chat at the end of the 20th century, a hapless intellectual experiences a rather less successful night. Distracted by his desire to be the center of attention at a convention of entomologists, Vincent misses the opportunity to be with a beautiful stranger and suffers the ridicule of his peers.<P> A "morning-after" encounter between the two men brings the novel to a poignant close and provides a unique insight into the different mind-sets of the two centuries. As Vincent prepares to speed off on his motorcycle, he has already obliterated the memory of his humiliation. The young nobleman, on the other hand, relives the delicious pleasures of the night as he lies back on the cushions of his carriage. <P> Ruminating on how the pleasures of slowness have disappeared in today's fast-paced, future-shocked world, Kundera explores the secret bond between slowness and memory and the connection between our era's desire to forget and the way we have given ourselves over to the demon of speed. As provocative as it is entertaining, <I>Slowness</I> is Kundera in top form. 1037708 21 5 1997 Slowness: A Novel total:1929|5:341|4:660|3:695|2:187|1:46| 1929 6850 2460 107 3 1 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Aug 03 10:50:54 -0700 2007 Tue Mar 18 06:07:29 -0700 2008
My favorite scene in the novel was that of the Czech entomologist caught up in an emotional state so...more...]]> 2 1 false false Tue Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Tue Sep 09 15:02:30 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 09 15:02:47 -0700 2008
cum defineste kundera 'balerinul': "...more...]]> 5 2 false false Mon Feb 02 18:37:59 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 11:27:54 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Nov 02 08:41:16 -0700 2007 Fri Nov 02 09:24:20 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Apr 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 30 10:40:12 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 07 10:57:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Nov 23 11:42:45 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 23 11:42:45 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Oct 02 17:28:24 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 02 17:40:39 -0700 2007 2 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 17 16:05:16 -0700 2009 Sun May 17 16:16:28 -0700 2009
The first half is devoted to why everybody under the age of 157 (approximately the time during which photographs became accessible to the masses) sucks. (The author photo on the jacket is, therefore, pretty much the only funny part of the book,...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jan 07 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 06 21:03:14 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 06 21:11:26 -0800 2009
Unlike some of his other books I thought this one was hilarious. Like the part in which he makes fun of celebrity intellectuals who are so full of themselves that they cannot admit that they have no idea what they are talking about.

I also...more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Jun 29 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 29 08:34:31 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 01 01:28:40 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Feb 27 13:53:24 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 27 15:39:04 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 1998 Tue Aug 14 09:38:41 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 14 13:49:50 -0700 2007
One example from this book is the idea that, if you were walking down the street and trying to remember or recall something, your pace wo...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Feb 17 00:32:41 -0800 2007 Fri Mar 30 01:26:16 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Oct 27 05:33:35 -0700 2008 Wed Dec 10 19:58:53 -0800 2008
“For Pontevin is one of the great disciples of Epicurus: he invents and develops his ideas simply because it gives him pleasure. He does not despise mankind, which is for him an inexhaustible source of merrily malicious reflections, but he feels not the fai...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Jan 18 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Dec 30 18:23:12 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 18 15:20:23 -0800 2009
1/2009: OK, now I've read about half of it, and decided to abandon it. It just doesn't captivate me. There are several different...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 17:23:26 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 17:29:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Nov 06 17:22:19 -0800 2007 Thu Nov 15 20:59:42 -0800 2007
This book was assigned for class and was much better than "Lightness." However, one of the reasons why I may enjoy it so much is because i...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri May 01 14:30:20 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 20:57:07 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Oct 01 14:07:14 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 01 14:10:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Dec 30 09:39:41 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 03 16:34:09 -0800 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=26097