The Unbearable Lightness Of Being Summary Sparknotes

The unbearable lightness of being opens with a philosophical discussion of lightness versus heaviness.

The unbearable lightness of being summary sparknotes. This second section of the unbearable lightness of being suggests that perhaps lightness and heaviness are not polar opposites. Kundera contrasts nietzsche s philosophy of eternal return or of heaviness with parmenides s understanding of life as light. The unbearable lightness of being by milan kundera is a novel told in seven parts. The unbearable lightness of being mainly takes place in prague in the years 1960 and 1970.

The prague spring officially began on january 5 1968 with the election of alexander dubcek as the first secretary of the communist party of czechoslovakia. The first part called lightness and weight begins with friedrich nietzsche s idea of the eternal return and with what nietzsche calls einmal ist keinmal. The unbearable lightness of being. Summary of the unbearable lightness of being by kundera.

The unbearable lightness of being takes place before during and after the prague spring a period of mass protest against czechoslovakia as a communist state after world war ii. Kundera wonders if any meaning or weight can be attributed to life since there is no eternal return. Tomas falls in love with tereza partly because he wants to feel heaviness. It explores the artistic and intellectual life of czech society during the communist period from the prague spring to the soviet invasion of 1968.

Basically this means that something that happens only once might as well not have happened. Summary read a plot overview of the entire book or a chapter by chapter summary and analysis.