جهالت
by Milan Kundera
published
2008
(first published 2003)
by کاروان
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setting
Iran, Islamic Republic of
isbn
(isbn13: 9647033184)
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avg 3.59
"Everyone is wrong about the future. Man can only be certain about the present moment. But is that quite true either? Can he really know the present? Is he in a position to make any judgment about it? Certainly not. For how can a person with no knowledge of the future understand the meaning of the present? If we do not know what future the present is leading us toward, how can we say whether this present is good or bad, whether it deserves our concurrence, or our suspicion, or our ha...more
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Read in June, 2006
(written june 10, 2006)
wednesday night i finished ignorance, about the third or fourth novel of milan kundera's that i have read. so far i have found that his later works, such as this, written in the language of his adopted home (french) rather than his homeland (czech) are simpler, more confined. not in a better or worse kind of way, but in a more removed way.
which makes sense, after all. much of what he is writing about is the push and pull of immigration/emigration, for him and his f...more
wednesday night i finished ignorance, about the third or fourth novel of milan kundera's that i have read. so far i have found that his later works, such as this, written in the language of his adopted home (french) rather than his homeland (czech) are simpler, more confined. not in a better or worse kind of way, but in a more removed way.
which makes sense, after all. much of what he is writing about is the push and pull of immigration/emigration, for him and his f...more
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Read in June, 2008
Ignorance's last pages are not my favorite; but as a whole, this book moved me deeply.
I could compare this book to some of my own writings about emigration, and I don't think I'd see much difference. The characters and the stories are different; but the mood is the same, the thoughts are the same.
Kundera is an émigré who fled from Czech Republic to France; so he's both Czech and French. In his writings, we can see the conflict of not knowing exactly which place he can call home.
Irena ...more
I could compare this book to some of my own writings about emigration, and I don't think I'd see much difference. The characters and the stories are different; but the mood is the same, the thoughts are the same.
Kundera is an émigré who fled from Czech Republic to France; so he's both Czech and French. In his writings, we can see the conflict of not knowing exactly which place he can call home.
Irena ...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
those who like immigration stories
Memory, identity, an epic internal journey to find love, comfort, acceptance--the warm welcome of family and friends, a sure sense of belonging, confidence in one's place and identity.
This is a book about two people, separative lives, two people who have never met before, but who have shared a similar fate, having left Czechoslovakia shortly after the 1967 Soviet crackdown. The woman lives in France; the man, now a widower, resides in the Netherlands.
Some 20 years later, it is safe f...more
This is a book about two people, separative lives, two people who have never met before, but who have shared a similar fate, having left Czechoslovakia shortly after the 1967 Soviet crackdown. The woman lives in France; the man, now a widower, resides in the Netherlands.
Some 20 years later, it is safe f...more
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Read in March, 2008
Challanges how we remember what we have lived; how we live.
Amazon.com
Bypassing the question of whether you can ever go home again, Milan Kundera's Ignorance tackles instead what happens when you actually get there. Ignorance is the story of two Czechs who meet by chance while traveling back to their homeland after 20 years in exile. Irena, who fled the country in 1968 with her now-deceased husband Martin, returns to Prague only to find coldness and indifference on the part of her former fr...more
Amazon.com
Bypassing the question of whether you can ever go home again, Milan Kundera's Ignorance tackles instead what happens when you actually get there. Ignorance is the story of two Czechs who meet by chance while traveling back to their homeland after 20 years in exile. Irena, who fled the country in 1968 with her now-deceased husband Martin, returns to Prague only to find coldness and indifference on the part of her former fr...more
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کوندرا را به این دلیل بسیار دوست دارم که مرا در چهارچوب بسته ی یک روایت زندانی نمی کند. خواندن کونرا مثل این است که دوستی را پس از سال ها در یک کافه ملاقات کنید و در حالی که به قصه ی روزگار رفته ی او گوش می دهید، قهوه تان را می نوشید، به موسیقی که از بلندگوی کافه پخش می شود، گوش می ...more
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Read in October, 2003
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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به نقل از سایت کتاب انتشارات کاروان
ایرنا و یوزف، دو مهاجر چک که پس از فروپاشی بلوک شرق، پس از بیست سال به کشور خود باز میگردند، در فرودگاه پاریس با هم ملاقات میکنند. ایرنا به یاد میآورد که زمان...more
ایرنا و یوزف، دو مهاجر چک که پس از فروپاشی بلوک شرق، پس از بیست سال به کشور خود باز میگردند، در فرودگاه پاریس با هم ملاقات میکنند. ایرنا به یاد میآورد که زمان...more
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به نقل از سایت کتاب انتشارات کاروان
ایرنا و یوزف، دو مهاجر چک که پس از فروپاشی بلوک شرق، پس از بیست سال به کشور خود باز میگردند، در فرودگاه پاریس با هم ملاقات میکنند. ایرنا به یاد میآورد که زمان...more
ایرنا و یوزف، دو مهاجر چک که پس از فروپاشی بلوک شرق، پس از بیست سال به کشور خود باز میگردند، در فرودگاه پاریس با هم ملاقات میکنند. ایرنا به یاد میآورد که زمان...more
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Kundera is brilliant! This is an especially enjoyable read, more accessible and clear to follow than some of his other books-he leads you through the world of his story like a tour guide, elaborating and illuminating. One aspect of Kundera's work that I really appreciate is how he constantly expands meaning across cultures and ages, spinning out meaning through explanations of linguistic differences and appeals to literature and history. He utilizes this strategy very effectively in Ignorance, u...more
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Read in January, 2006
recommends it for:
anybody
i dun usually go for the heady thinkers (and this is the preeminent Kundera!), but surprisingly this book's a good read. but dun let the casual writing style and easy words fool u. This book does pack a punch in philosophy, in the realm of conscious and identity. in expressing these deep concepts, kundera uses the story of odessey and his 20 yr separation with his wife as an analogy of how time can stand still and move forward at the same time, hence warping personal identity - odessey yearned f...more
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Read in October, 2004
I have love and hate relationship to Kundera's writings. Dark as always triggering many questions on life we are living on. Not a happy pills as Coelho's or Albom's books may give to ones.
This book is about returning home after many years detached from the culture where she and he once grew up in.
the art of readjusting, finding different values and not being judgmental, telling ourselves that we are still the same person.
I can feel the relieve in the lady character as she met the guy who a...more
This book is about returning home after many years detached from the culture where she and he once grew up in.
the art of readjusting, finding different values and not being judgmental, telling ourselves that we are still the same person.
I can feel the relieve in the lady character as she met the guy who a...more
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Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
Everyone
I used my last 10 dollars to buy this book instead of groceries and never regretted it. Kundera refers alot to his personal life in this book. Both him and the main characters were deal with returning to your mother country after being away for so long and the memories you hold. The way Kundera deals with memories is superb and thought invoking. Although simple in language Kundera bring alive the feelings and emotions people have being away from their homeland.
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Read in July, 2008
I haven't read anything by this author in years, so it's hard for me to compare this with some of his older works. All in all, I really liked how it played with the past, present and future. I think a more appropriate title might be include the word "nostalgia". It gives a good perspective on being an emigre and the main character leaves the Czech Republic for France, as Kundera himself did. A lot of the characters are very lonely. Super fast read.
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Read in June, 2008
4 or 5 glasses of wine and this book really comes alive!
No - but after the first couple sheaves I figured it would amount to nothing more than a palette cleanser between courses, and perhaps that is its fate - but mr. kundera keeps hanging over my shoulder like an old friend late after dinner, admonishing me to drink another cupful.
it is tender. it is touching. and I'll say something more: three stars doesn't mean I didn't like the reading of the book - I'm just trying to account for qu...more
No - but after the first couple sheaves I figured it would amount to nothing more than a palette cleanser between courses, and perhaps that is its fate - but mr. kundera keeps hanging over my shoulder like an old friend late after dinner, admonishing me to drink another cupful.
it is tender. it is touching. and I'll say something more: three stars doesn't mean I didn't like the reading of the book - I'm just trying to account for qu...more
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Read in August, 2002
This book is about loneliness, alienation, rootlessness, memory and forgetting. Wherever you go, you bring your past with you, the more you remember the more you are a stranger to your past...and it is not always easy to cut your roots... This is one of the most impressive books that I read from Milan Kundera. Read especially his etymological explanation of the word "nostalgia" and its relationship with ignorance. I think this is the essence of whole book. Enjoy!
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Read in August, 2008
I accidentally checked this book out from the library thinking it was something else! This is a novel where the characters are all ideas and the plot is a metaphor. There are some snatches of beautiful writing and engaging ideas, though. I thought the conceit was interesting and would probably be more interested in seeing it developed in a more traditional style, but that's just taste. If you're in the mood to muse, this will give you something to muse over.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in August, 2007
Light, but not entirely enjoyable. The repetitive philosophizing on the theme of the book - emigration and return - gives the feeling of the author lecturing his own characters, or using their experiences to illustrate the more important "big theme". This philsophy novel stuff reminds me a bit of Alain de Botton. On the plus side, Kundera does draw things together in the end, revealing that the book is in fact a tightly-structured little package.
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Not my favorite piece of Kundera literature, but I could highly relate to the main characters on their sentiments of their "Great Return" to their homeland. I just came back from Korea to the US (my native country) and I felt myself echoing Irena when it came to interactions with the folks back at home. I also enjoyed the pathetic/comic nature of the imbalance of two peoples' memory/significance of one another- the non-mutual shared experience.
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Read in August, 2008
recommended to Carolyn Heinze by:
thanks, Marie B.!recommends it for: expats and the curious
Excellent. Je l'ai trouvé un petit peu cynique, mais c'est un cynisme que j'apprécie. Smart, concise, witty, thoughtful without being preachy. Have been meaning to read Kundera for a while, and will definitely be reading more. I believe that every expat will relate to this, even if the circumstances under which they adopted a new country were not at all similar to those of the characters in this book. Loved it.
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