Literature
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
CevvelaLiterature
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Milan Kundera · Can Yayınları · 1984
7
Cevvela Score
7.3 (2.429 oy)
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Summary
Against the political turmoil of the Prague Spring, the tangled relationships of Tomas, Tereza, Sabina and Franz around love, betrayal, commitment and freedom. Through Nietzsche’s idea of eternal return, the philosophical conflict between the “lightness” of a life lived only once and the “weight” our choices carry.
Quotes from Cevvela
“What happens only once might as well not have happened at all. Life has no rehearsal.”
“Love is not building an empire but leaving yourself defenseless.”
“Lightness is freedom, but it is also a deep emptiness.”
“Commitment is a weight a person chooses by their own will.”
“How long can a love last that feels no compassion?”
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Reader Score: 7.3 / 10(2.429 votes)
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Kundera’s language is ironic, lyrical and built to keep the mind in contradiction. He neither sanctifies fidelity nor condemns betrayal; he simply lays the human instincts of attachment and flight on the operating table. The conflict between Tomas’s lightness (irresponsibility) and Tereza’s weight (commitment) sums up the schizophrenia of modern love. The author tells us that because life is lived only once, none of our decisions has a rehearsal. Cevvela does not judge us; nor does Kundera judge his characters. You come to see the false weights and meaningless obsessions in your own relationships. The real tragedy in love is believing we can control it.