Be Specific About Books Concering Life is Elsewhere
| Original Title: | Život je jinde |
| ISBN: | 0060997028 (ISBN13: 9780060997021) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Jaromil |
| Literary Awards: | Prix Médicis Etranger (1973), National Book Award Finalist for Translation (1975) |
Milan Kundera
Paperback | Pages: 432 pages Rating: 3.95 | 14244 Users | 781 Reviews
Description In Favor Of Books Life is Elsewhere
Kundera initially intended to call this novel The Lyrical Age. The lyrical age, according to Kundera, is youth, and this novel, above all, is an epic of adolescence; an ironic epic that tenderly erodes sacrosanct values: childhood, motherhood, revolution, and even poetry. Jaromil is in fact a poet. His mother made him a poet and accompanies him (figuratively) to his love bed, and (literally) to his deathbed. A ridiculous and touching character, horrifying and totally innocent ("innocence with its bloody smile"!), Jaromil is at the same time a true poet. He's no creep, he's Rimbaud. Rimbaud entrapped by the communist revolution, entrapped in a sombre farce.
Point Epithetical Books Life is Elsewhere
| Title | : | Life is Elsewhere |
| Author | : | Milan Kundera |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 432 pages |
| Published | : | July 25th 2000 by Harper Perennial (first published 1973) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. European Literature. Czech Literature. Literature. Novels |
Rating Epithetical Books Life is Elsewhere
Ratings: 3.95 From 14244 Users | 781 ReviewsEvaluate Epithetical Books Life is Elsewhere
I always find it hard to accurately appraise books whose protagonists I hate. Both Jaromil and his mother are small and odious, and my distaste is magnified by the fact that Jaromil is a character whom, if portrayed through a different narratorial lens, I likely would have loved. Thats the point of this book, though, a biting and deeply effective critique of the lyrical poet and often Kundera seamlessly transitions into speaking of Hugo and Rimbaud and Pushkin in the same breath (and indeedOne of the best from Kundera.
You think that just because it's already happened, the past is finished and unchangeable? Oh no, the past is cloaked in multicolored taffeta and every time we look at it we see a different hue. Life is Elsewhere is Kundera's parody of youth and adolescence. It ridicules the ego of young artists and makes a folly out of sanctified values of the time: motherhood, poetry, revolution, nationalism. Don't get me wrong: Kundera will never sound that harsh, he puts forward his satire with tenderness
I absolutely loved this book, but it's probably not for everyone. It's ostensibly about a young poet and his overbearing mother during the period following the Czech communist revolution, but that's basically just an excuse for Kundera to talk about art, poetry, politics, and integrity for four hundred pages. You know, all that human stuff that's a little uncomfortable to talk/read about unless it's done really well. Kundera's ideas are challenging and provocative, but his irrepressible charm
This year is the fiftieth since Kundera finished writing Life is Elsewhere (publication came a few years later). Although the plot is connected to an era of Czech history, I couldnt help but impose my own experiences and contemporary events to my reading of it. That is the mark of great literature; it steps outside of its obvious confines as it emerges to illuminate universal and eternal questions. Dont be fooled by the simple prose of this hypnotizing novel, its observations are percipient in
This book hurts me. I feel like Kundera found my weaknesses built a straw man out of them and published a telling description for all the world to see. I don't want to be Jaromil but I fear I too frequently am. This is literature, when an author can make us see our lesser selves.
Life is Elsewhere is Kunderas brazen send-up of the world of poetry, particularly the world of poets who involve themselves with politics. It follows in the tradition of the nineteenth century novel where your given the main characters life from birth onwards, although it does cut out portions, a la A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The main character is Jaromil, a man who has a painfully awkward childhood (complete with a few hysterically funny scenes) who grows up to believe hes
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