Words Not Understood
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Summary
The second, "Prague, the Disappearing Poem," published in 1980, has Kundera recounting with deep feeling the brilliance and achievements of Central European culture and the trials faced by Czech culture—a culture that nourished his writing and shaped the distinctive character of his work.
Today, it is like a poem recorded on burning paper, about to vanish. In July 2023, Milan Kundera left us, and the publication of these two short essays brings him before us again in his most vivid form. For readers who have yet to discover Kundera, this book will serve as an entry point into his fictional universe.
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers who love Kundera's novels and want to understand his key intellectual concepts and creative background
- Chinese-language readers interested in exile writing, mother tongues, and translation
- Literature enthusiasts studying contemporary European literature and the relationship between Central European cultures
- New readers hoping to start with short essays and gradually enter Kundera's work
Not a good fit for
- Readers expecting a complete novel or continuous narrative
- Readers impatient with literary theory, word analysis, and the essay genre
- Readers seeking a systematic author biography or chronological life information
Reading tips
- Read "Eighty-Nine Words" first, treating it as Kundera's personal dictionary to browse at leisure; when you encounter a familiar word, return to the related novel.
- When reading "Prague, the Disappearing Poem," annotate it with your own knowledge of Central European history, and pay attention to the themes of cultural memory and disappearance.
- Leave a gap between the two essays; after finishing one, jot down a few key words before moving to the next, to avoid information overload.
- If you have already read The Art of the Novel, compare it with the "Sixty-Seven Words" chapter to appreciate the added content and differences in tone in the complete version.
About the publisher
Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 引言
- 八十九个词
- 布拉格，消失的诗
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
FAQ
Can I read this book directly if I haven't read Kundera's novels?
What is the relationship between "Eighty-Nine Words" and the "Sixty-Seven Words" in The Art of the Novel?
Is this book suitable as an introductory read for understanding Central European culture?
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About the author
Milan Kundera (1929–2023) was a Czech-born French writer. Born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, he went into exile in France in 1975, became a French citizen in 1981, and regained Czech citizenship in 2019. Known for his philosophical novels, he placed his characters' lives under the pressure of politics and history, exploring themes such as love, memory, forgetting, and identity. His narratives are interwoven with essayistic reflection, creating a distinctive form that lies between the novel and the essay. His major works include The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Joke, and The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, as well as Life Is Elsewhere, The Farewell Party, Laughable Loves, Ignorance, and Identity, along with essay collections such as Testaments Betrayed and The Curtain. His works have been translated into many languages and have had a profound influence on contemporary literature.
Dong Qiang is a Chinese author whose works span a notably wide range of subjects. Public information about him is limited, and no clear record of his birth and death dates, nationality, or educational background is available. The library holds nine of his works, covering categories such as foreign literature, psychological research, essays and miscellaneous writings, medicine, literary appreciation, and travel. Representative titles include Camille, Identity, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (Writer's List Classic Library), and The Curtain, all of which are translations or edited volumes in foreign literature, showing his sustained attention to French literature and Western thought. The Illustrated History of French Literature reflects his approach to literary history and appreciation. In addition, the neurology volume of the Standard Training Course for Physician Assessment points to a medical specialty, while Ecuador: A Travel Diary and A Kidnapped West or the Tragedy of Central Europe touch on travel writing and Central European cultural issues respectively. Given the limited information, his specific career cannot be described in detail, but the existing titles suggest that his writing combines academic popularization with cross-cultural translation and introduction for different readerships.
