Milan Kundera
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Milan Kundera is one of the most well known writers of the Czech Republic. His stories can be humorous, but they often focus on the political environment surrounding Czechoslovokia. One of Kunderas most popular works entitled The Hitchhiking Game is a highly entertaining piece of work centering on these same elements. In this paper we will be observing many interesting aspects having to do with The Hitchhiking Game including but not limited to the analysis of the story, the writers personal opinion of the story, and topics for further study. We will also discuss many literary devices such as conflict, setting, characterization, and who can forget theme? All of this will be wrapped up in a well thought out conclusion that will summarize all the factors explained in this paper.
As was just stated, Milan Kundera is a well known writer born April 1st, 1929 in Brno Czechoslovokia. He first became interested in art when he began studying music and piano. His father, Ludvik Kundera, was a concert pianist whom Milan surely inherited his interest in music. Not only did he study music, but Milan Kundera was also interested in film as a young man. His most successful department in art, however, was writing poetry. Surprisingly enough, he was relieved when he lost his interest for poetry at the end of the 1950s.
By the beginning of the 1960s, Kundera had made a name for himself in the English literature. He began doing literary criticisms all the while teaching at the Institute for Advanced Cinematographic Studies. Unfortunately, he lost his teaching position after 1968 Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovokia. The Czech Communist regime imposed literary and travel bans on Kundera, and revoked his citizenship for good. He then settled in France with his wife Vera Hrabanova who he married in 1967.
Milan Kundera is responsible for the works of several novels and stories including The Joke, Life is Elsewhere, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, and The Hitchhiking Game. His works have been translated into fifteen different languages. His awards and honors include the Czechoslovak writers Union Prize for The Joke; Frances Prix Medicis for Life is Elsewhere; and the Jerusalem Prize for literature.
Many of Kunderas stories have a connection to himself and the society in which he lived. The Book of Laughter was published at the time his Czechoslovokian citizenship was revoked. It is set in the context of Communist Czechoslovokia and centers on several events the took place during this time period.
Another story of Kunderas that reflects various factors having to do with his personal life is The Unbearable Light of Being which was published in 1984. Set around the time of