essays

Readers will no doubt be reminded of Art of the Novel, a more careful reading will reveal that the major theme of the book, the posthumous betrayal of artists and their work, was also dealt with to a large extent in Immortality. In Immortality, Kundera allowed for the posthumous encounter of Hemingway and Goethe. Where Goethe speaks candidly to Hemingway and mentions that "Haven't you realized, Ernest that the figures they talk about have nothing to do with us." Dealing mostly with Max Brod's betrayal of Kafka, Kundera is simply standing up for the rights of artists wishing that artists wishes and rights be honored. Kundera brings in his vast knowledge of music to the discourse of the novel stating in effect that each section carries a tempo which indicates a change in atmosphere. Effectively, Testaments Betrayed is a 9 part piece that covers a range of subjects from the history, the life, and the death of the novel, Hemingway, Kafka, Janacek, Stravinsky and Don Quixote. Not to reduce Testaments Betrayed to a single theme, the focus does seem to be the betrayal of Kafka by Brod. Kundera describes how Kafka suspends believability not to escape the world but to capture it. When Max Brod refuses to burn Kafka's papers, he effectively creates Kafkology. Kundera notices the parallel fate of Kafka and yet another of his heroes, Leos Janacek causing his provincialism and isolating him from mainstream music. Effectively, "a dead person is treated either as trash or as a symbol. Either way, it's the same disrespect to his vanished individuality." I line with what Foucualt and Barthe are talking about when talking about the 'Author Function'. I guess it is really ironic that betrayal comes from the best intentioned. Kundera no doubt is controversial where this is concerned as I can imagine the career Kafkologist will disagree with him and see Brod as a hero - the one who saved Kafka from obscurity. No matter what your opinion, Kundera is just as responsible for all the authorial function violations by brining it all up - more power to him.

Miguel Llora

This is one of the most important books I've ever read. It is of interest, of course, to people involved with literature, music, translation, or who are interested in Kafka, Picasso, Hemmingway, Stravinsky, or others Kundera talks about. But I think the real importance of this book applies to any reader. It has to do with Milan Kundera's beautiful illustrations as to how we as humans try to make our own heroes everyone else's heroes, too, and in the process destroy many of the things we value and love about them. This is a vital idea in the modern world, where celebrity, biography, and voyeurism are always so present. Also, the statements Kundera makes on the nature of friendship inspire deep reflection on the qualities of our relationships with those we hold dear.

Mostly excellent, great stuff about Hemingway's "Hills like white elephants" and Kafka. But he makes some real DUMB remarks about sumthin he seems to know nuthin about (worse than the stuff he pans by others), jazz and rock music: "...At jazz concerts people applaud. To applaud means:..." [try Kerouac for the relationship of jazz to audience instead]. "An important FACT [my caps]: at rock concerts people do not applaud [what?]. It would be almost sacrilege to applaud and thus bring to notice the critical distance between the person playing and the person listening..." [what about Jim Morrison yelling "shut up" to squealing teeny-boppers- or Captain Beefheart stopping to command "cut it out, man, it's not even in 4/4" to a clapping dodo]. "...there are no dynamic contrasts, everything is fortissismo [yeah, right]... and resembles screaming... we're no longer in those little nightspots [i am] ...we're in huge halls, in stadiums, pressed one against the next..." [sometimes, and i don't care for that myself, but that's not the totality of "rock"]. His comments are as silly and philistinic as some 'hipster' putting down all 'longhair' (classical) music after hearing Montovani.