Czech novelist Milan Kundera dies at 94

Milan Kundera, author of “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”, has died aged 94. His dark, provocative novels explored the human condition, drawing on his own experiences of being stripped of his Czech nationality for dissent.

Milan Kundera, the author of “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” whose dark, provocative novels delved into the enigma of the human condition, has died, a spokeswoman for the Milan Kundera Library in his native city of Brno said on Wednesday. He was 94.

“Unfortunately I can confirm that Mr. Milan Kundera passed away yesterday [Tuesday] after a prolonged illness,” she told AFP. Through his characteristic satire and poetic prose Kundera had sought to express all that is compelling and absurd about life, drawing on his own experiences of being stripped of his Czech nationality for dissent.

Life, he said in his work of criticism “Art of the Novel” (1986), “is a trap we’ve always known: we are born without having asked to be, locked in a body we never chose, and destined to die.”

Young rebel

Kundera was born on April 1, 1929, in the town of Brno, in what was then Czechoslovakia. His father was a famous pianist.

He studied in Prague, where he joined the Communist Party, translated the French poet Apollinaire and wrote poetry of his own.

He also taught at a film school where his students included the future Oscar-winning director Milos Forman.