Book 49 - Milan Kundera "Slowness"
May. 31st, 2019 09:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzy_daveMilan Kundera "Slowness" (Faber and Faber)
Not sure how to describe or review this book, except to say that I find it rather daunting that this is apparently considered one of Kundera's lightest works. It is very philosophical, theorizing about the modern world's obsession with speed (and this was written over a decade ago - if he only knew) and its relation to our desire to forget. I don't think he means forgetting in the micro-ish sense (where are my keys, what was my high school locker combination) so much as the macro sense - repressing the pain of past relationships or traumatic childhoods, or even more to the point the broader social forgetting of troubling cultural and socio-political attitudes and actions. There is a plot, but I found it really only relevant in the aspects of Kundera's (who essentially narrates the work as himself) philosophical musings that it illuminates.
If this book tries to convey a point or some life lesson, it's hedonism. Pleasure cannot be experienced to the full unless it slowly works the way up to climax. It aims (maybe a little too high) at the secret bond between slowness and memory, about how speed infringes slowness and happiness.
"Slowness" is not an easy book to read, but Milan Kundera has many intriguing ideas along with a unique way of getting his message across. If you are a fan of Kundera, you may what to give it a try.
Not sure how to describe or review this book, except to say that I find it rather daunting that this is apparently considered one of Kundera's lightest works. It is very philosophical, theorizing about the modern world's obsession with speed (and this was written over a decade ago - if he only knew) and its relation to our desire to forget. I don't think he means forgetting in the micro-ish sense (where are my keys, what was my high school locker combination) so much as the macro sense - repressing the pain of past relationships or traumatic childhoods, or even more to the point the broader social forgetting of troubling cultural and socio-political attitudes and actions. There is a plot, but I found it really only relevant in the aspects of Kundera's (who essentially narrates the work as himself) philosophical musings that it illuminates.
If this book tries to convey a point or some life lesson, it's hedonism. Pleasure cannot be experienced to the full unless it slowly works the way up to climax. It aims (maybe a little too high) at the secret bond between slowness and memory, about how speed infringes slowness and happiness.
"Slowness" is not an easy book to read, but Milan Kundera has many intriguing ideas along with a unique way of getting his message across. If you are a fan of Kundera, you may what to give it a try.
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