5 Sterne, weil inhaltlich und formell sehr speziell. Handlung an sich nicht vorhanden, oder wirr. ( )

Ah, I forgot about how old czech men write women. I remember disliking it as a teen, but I think I was more tolerant, maybe because of the literature available to me at the time, maybe because I lived in that culture, maybe just because grown women were something outside of my identity. In any case I found it more noticeable and annoying here than in other works. I did quite like some moments, generally at the beginning: I feel Agnes' early misanthropy, I've felt this walking down the street. And her desire for solitude. And the screed against universal fame and watching, that's become more relevant than ever. But the long middle section about weird-ass gender relations really dragged it down. I still enjoy Kundera's writing and ideas, and I have no problem taking the good from this to prompt my own thoughts. ( )

A partir del gesto encantador de una mujer de cierta edad, el escritor crea el personaje de Agnes, alrededor de la cual aparecerán su hermana Laura, su marido Paul, y todo nuestro mundo contemporáneo en el que se rinde culto a la tecnología y la imagen. Pero ¿y si el hombre no fuera sino su imagen ?, pregunta otro personaje, Rubens, quien comprueba finalmente que de la más excitante de sus amantes sólo le quedan dos o tres fotografías mentales. Esta novela transforma todos los aspectos del mundo moderno en cuestiones metafísicas. Su forma es polifónica: las aventuras de los personajes imaginarios se mezclan con la historia de dos candidatos a la inmortalidad, Goethe y Bettina von Armin; la reflexión sobre el nacimiento del homo senti-mentalis en la historia de Europa alterna con las peripecias parisienses del singular profesor Avenarius, para quien el mundo de hoy no sirve sino como objeto de juego. Kundera tiene el don de decir del modo más cristalino lo que a uno le resulta más difícil decirse, y en esta novela alcanza la cima de esta facultad.

Not as emotionally involving as Unbearable Lightness, I still enjoyed Kundera's musings and his imaginitive approach to storytelling. He juggles a number of separate, related narratives, but the most interesting one involves the poet and philosopher, Goethe. I particularly enjoyed the dialogue between Goethe's ghost and Hemingway's ghost in heaven. Unfortunately, the purely fictional characters didn't grab me in the same way.

Ultimately, the characters and their stories weren't as compelling as the author's thoughts on a wide variety of subjects. While I didn't agree with a lot of the ideas he put forward, I wasn't put off by them, as much as they helped me reexamine my own beliefs. His ideas are very personal and reflect a unique personality. Though some have found him misogynistic, and I can understand why, I don't necessarily buy it (or hope that he's not). The philosophical wanderings were enough to make me enjoy reading it, I just wish the story had left me with more of an emotional impact. ( )

This is one of the strangest books I have ever read. The mix of quasi-biography (Goethe & Bettina Brentano von Arnim) with straight up fiction (maybe?), time-shifts from past to present, and ambiguity leading to multiple surprises. The novel basically serves as ta foundation and framing for Kundera's philosophical musings. ( )

What an amazing book... Having just closed it, it's reverberating inside of me like a new love. Kundera put into (beautiful) words so many thoughts and observations I made or at least believe I made in my first 36 years on this planet. In this book, the paradoxes, blatant untruths and crazy ideas all serve to highlight the many, many times his philosophical whims match 100% with your views and experiences.

I am sure however, that every reader will agree with different things in [b:Immortality|28634|Immortality|Milan Kundera|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388507539s/28634.jpg|2776625]. This turns this book into perfect material for hot debate, sleepless nights and a lot of pondering and wondering.

Where [b:The Unbearable Lightness of Being|678974|The Unbearable Lightness of Being|Milan Kundera|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1362345638s/678974.jpg|4489585] left me nearly depressed, Immortality feels like a celebration of life and urges us to go and live it to the fullest.

Full five stars: beautifully written, exceptionally unique style and great material all in one.
( )

> Nuit blanche, (40), pp. 36-37 : https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/19815ac
> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Kundera-LImmortalite/8972

> Parce que « l’homme peut mettre fin à sa vie. Mais il ne peut mettre fin à son immortalité. » (Kundera).
—La presse, 7 sept. 2008

> L'IMMORTALITÉ, de Milan Kundera. — Dans ce livre de Milan Kundera, il y a des femmes qui vous font des signes de la main comme autant d'oiseaux prêts à prendre leur envol. Gestes fugaces, pleins de promesses et d’interrogations pour ceux qui les reçoivent, instants que le livre immortalise, temps d'arrêt dans la longue suite des hasards de la vie.
Il y est souvent question de hasard ou plus exactement de coïncidences génératrices d’histoires, mais aussi d’explications rationnelles de nos actes. “En allemand, la raison se dit Grund, mot qui n’a rien à voir avec la ratio latine et qui désigne d’abord le sol, puis un fondement. Tout au fond de chacun de nous est inscrit un Grund qui est la cause permanente de nos actes, qui est le sol sur lequel s’écrit notre destin. J'essaye de saisir chez chacun de mes personnages son Grund.”
Bien sûr, il y a une histoire dans ce livre, un fil conducteur, avec des personnages que l’on voit évoluer et leurs propres intrigues qui s’entrecroisent, se répondent grâce aux propriétés inhérentes au genre romanesque ; mais l’histoire à proprement dite est continuellement entrecoupée de mini-textes qui n’apportent pas quelque chose en plus du point de vue du simple déroulement de l’histoire mais qui créent l’essence du livre. Éd. Gallimard.
—Nouvelles Clés, (10), Mars/Avril 1990, (pp. 73-74)

In einem Fitness-Club über den Dächern von Paris sitzt Milan Kundera, Autor und Figur der Unsterblichkeit, und beobachtet, wie eine etwa sechzigjährige Frau Schwimmstunden nimmt. Zum Abschied winkt sie dem Schwimmlehrer noch einmal zu und macht dabei eine so graziöse Handbewegung, daß der Betrachter beschließt, diese Geste, die die ganze unerträgliche Leichtigkeit des Seins zu enthalten scheint, der Heldin seines Romans, Agnes, zum Geschenk zu machen.
Als würden auch wir auf diese Weise in den Roman gewunken: zu Agnes, der scheinbar Ätherischen, die ein erotisches Doppelleben führt; zu Laura, ihrer ein bißchen sentimentalen Schwester, die mit dem Journalisten Bernard nicht glücklich werden darf, weil dessen Geschwätz im Radio den Autor jeden Morgen zum Wahnsinn treibt; und zu Paul, der – auf seine Weise – bei den Schwestern seine Spuren hinterläßt. Darüber unterhalten sich auf höherer Ebene, im Jenseits: Goethe (in Pantoffeln, mit einer Sonnenblende am Stirnband) und Hemingway. Aber es gibt in diesem musikalischen Roman eben nicht nur die »große Unsterblichkeit« der Berühmten, sondern auch diese graziöse Handbewegung, die unvergessen bleibt: aufgehoben für alle Zeiten und unsterblich geworden in diesem Roman.

4.5 Stars

In 1809, Bettina von Arnim wrote to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: 'I have a strong will to love you for eternity' Read carefully this apparently banal sentence. More important than the word 'love' are the words 'eternity' and 'will'
I won't keep you in suspense any longer. What was at stake between them was not love. It was immortality...

( )

Whatever I did not like in the "Unbearable Lightness of Being" was developed here; whatever I liked in the mentioned book "Immortality" explained away, severed its connection with Kundera, his form and his content. To a person who wants to read Kundera and wants my opinion (which is a contradiction as it is) I would advice not to touch this book.

I had more objections to Kundera's style, narrative technique, presentation and subject, but, fortunately, I have happily forgotten most of it. ( )

Kundera vertelt het verhaal van Agnes en Laura, twee zussen die een totaal andere levensvisie hebben, en Paul, een advocaat met passie voor het medium radio. Ook vertelt hij het verhaal van Bettina en Goethe - en ten slotte is er ook nog Rubens die in de grootste finale wordt opgevoerd.
Centraal staat het idee van onsterfelijkheid. Kleine onsterfelijkheid, herinnerd worden door je naasten, of grote onsterfelijkheid, adoratie bij het grote publiek tot eeuwen na de eigenlijke dood. Goethe gaat voor de Grote Onsterfelijkheid, Agnes voor de kleine onsterfelijkheid. Maar op het einde van de rit blijkt dat de verschillen tussen beide protagonisten klein zijn.
Recensie(s)
Complexe roman van Milan Kundera, waarin het hoofdthema, 'onsterfelijkheid' en 'literaire beeldvorming' vanuit verschillende invalshoeken wordt belicht en onderzocht. Daartoe schiep hij het fictionele verhaal van de Franse zusjes Agnes en Laura en geeft daarmee uiting aan o.a. zijn kritische houding tegenover de Westerse massacultuur, met haar modetrends en 'mannetjesmakerij'. Daartegenover staat de literair-biografische context van Goethe, de 'onsterfelijke', wiens beeld bedreigd werd door zijn 'geliefde' Bettina Brentano. Opvallend nieuw in de roman is het voorkomen van de schrijver zelf als personage. Aan de andere kant komt Kundera's Tsjechische achtergrond minimaal aan de orde. Toptien-boek.

I absolutely loved this book - thoroughly recommend it... its depiction of how we construct ourselves and immortalise ourselves is outstanding. Emotional and honest. ( )

The author is sitting by the pool of his health club when he sees a woman make a gesture that brings on a flood of speculations about her life. Mixed in with these fantasies are anecdotes that may or may not be true about the lives of Goethe, Hemingway, Rimbaud, Rubens, Beethoven, and other famous artists. Along the way, Kundera attempts to deconstruct the novel as an art form.

This book really requires a lot of concentration and thought, and I just didn’t have it in me to put the necessary amount of work into reading it. I appreciate what Kundera was trying to do with deconstructing the novel, but I didn’t enjoy it. I also disagree with a lot of what his characters said about the nature of life and humanity, so it was difficult to empathize with them. ( )

A novel of ideas like Musil's Man Without Qualities. The immortality sought stems from a gesture seen by the novelist-god as he looked on an older woman waving to a young lifeguard at a swimming pool -- like the screenplay for "A Separation" came to the writer as he watched a man button his old dad's tunic for him. A real cast of characters with heartbreaks and breakthroughs. Bittersweet to my tastebuds. ( )

I remember reading this as a student and being really blown away by it. Re-reading it now I was surprised how little I remembered, and felt it was a bit shallow in the end but probably got some different things out of it. Not knowing much about Goethe I found those sections about Bettina interesting, how she positioned herself next to the prominent men of the era and gained some immortality by association, she sounds like quite a character. I also quite like way Kundera puts himself in the novel and how it feels like reality is intruding into invention. It's a mixed bag, a patchy book, and a little dated, but still worth reading. ( )

Having enjoyed some of Kundera's books before and with a friend's recommendations in my ear I started on this. Great disappointment. A bitty hotchpotch of scenes with Goethe and photographers, Napoleon meeting Goethe, Goethe doing sleazy stuff with young girl, Goethe meeting Hemingway in heaven (for goodness sake!) interspersed with a bunch of parisian bourgeois of no particular interest and empty musings on the image in modern society. Life is too short for "Immortality" ( )

This is one of those books which, while I have to admit I'm sure I don't really understand most of what it is about, I "resonate" with it intensely. I enjoy Kundera's writing style immensely. I like the way he throws many scenes and ideas at me and trusts me to think deeply about the complex relationships he's presenting, without telling me exactly what conclusions I should draw from them. For how he impacts my mind, I would "rank" him with Tolstoy and with Iris Murdock. What I like best about Kundera's books is that they make me think and with a feeling that thinking and questioning is important; I feel more alive, and I feel it is not only worthwhile being me (existing, and expressing Being in my particular way), but it is also essential to my being that I think about the story of my life and that I choose to further that "story" and contribute to it. I think this is my response particularly to Kundera's "Immortality" because one of the things he's writing "about" is the intersections of "fact" and "fiction.". The fact that he makes himself one of his characters in the novel is the main catalyst for my contemplating the story of my life in this particular way. Like I said, I don't claim to understand everything Kundera is writing "about.". If there are others out there who read this review and have read many of Kundera's books, I would enjoy reading your reflections on his writing and/or learning of any helpful study guides on Kundera, particularly regarding the themes addressed in "Immortality." ( )

It has just a little bit of plot and a smidgen of character underneath a great deal of philosophy, so it's definitely not for everyone. But I found it entertaining and surprising, even the parts where I felt completely lost in the ramblings and grotesqueries the author includes quite self-consciously. ( )

oh boy...i just don't know what's going on in my head after reading this. granted, i stayed up way too late last night to finish it. it feels to me like a book that should be read in as few sessions as possible, to stay in its groove. it took me a long time to get my footing with this novel because i don't know that, traditionally, it really is a novel. i read the back description on my book to make sure - at a couple of points during the read - that yes, the word 'novel' was, in fact, used to describe the book. heh. sure, there is a good part of it that could be pulled out and called 'novel', but then there are also these philosophical arguments being put forth at the same time. tie in the meta aspect of the book and, well, i ended up not loving it. which made me sad because i love kundera. and i love meta-fiction. i had a tonne of fun imagining hemingway and goethe together, that was a hoot. but when the philosophical narratives began, i felt like it was too obvious - like kundera was hitting me over the head with it. it also didn't make for seamless transitions so i felt jarred out of the reading each time there was a shift. overall there are some really interesting ideas in the book - of course there are!!! i just am not thrilled with the structure of how it was all delivered.

though i am still suffering from a bolañover, so that could definitely be impacting my feelings of kundera at this moment. ( )

Pretty much everything Milan Kundera ever wrote is brilliant but this is one of my absolute favorites. There is so much in here to take away about human identity and as usual such richness of story. Like many of his books, perhaps meant to be read again and again throughout one's lifetime. ( )

Kundera's second strongest book after ULofB, this is a natural follow-up to those under the spell of Kundera. ( )

מייגע למדי ( )

It starts off beautifully. The narrator is poolside, watching an older woman make a playful, girlish, and even flirty gesture to her swim instructor as she is leaving. Watching her act so young, so unaware of her actual age prompts the narrator to ponder ageism and what it would mean to be truly ageless. From there the novel meanders through fact and fiction, weaving real historical figures like Goethe and Hemingway with fictional ones like the woman from the pool, Agnes. Kundera's writing breaks boundaries because the style is a conversation with the reader, a philosophical journey through topics like relationships, sex and of course, immortality. ( )

Пролистать: Бессмертие, Милан Кундера

"Остров накануне" Умберто Эко я дочитал до конца, чем и горжусь: ни до, ни после мне не приходилось прилагать столько усилий, чтоб прочитывать хотя бы три страницы за раз, не засыпая. Если подобного опыта самопреодоления нет - "Бессмертие" вполне для него годится, и это - единственная причина, по которой следует её читать. Других не придумывается - более нудной и бессмысленной книги у Кундеры мне не попадалось. По счастливому совпадению, она же и самая объемистая, так что есть где проявить силу воли.

Объём, сдаётся мне, объясняется замахом разом и навсегда ответить на все вопросы, отсюда сведённое под одной обложкой жизнеописание семейства французов со всеми их глубокими переживаниями по разнообразным поводам и никак не связанное с ним "творец о творцах", то есть мудрствования на тему кто как стал гением и почему именно он. Копания в каких-то письмах, то ли реальных, то ли выдуманных, друзья, вне- и брачные связи, обстоятельства, какие-то странные приёмы завлечения читательского внимания типа диалогов Гёте (досталось в наибольшей мере именно ему, хотя список творческих личностей, так или иначе упомянутых, огромен - прям пособие по блистанию эрудицией) с Хемингуэем или - о боги, какая находка - использования имени "Рубенс" для любовника главной героини. Всё свалено в одну кучу и там перемешалось само по себе: в попытках объять необъятное автор теряет контроль над потоком слов и забывает, что именно он хотел сказать. Полное отсутствие сюжета и характеров компенсируется постоянной рефлексией и надёрганными из кого только можно цитатами, плоскими, как бобриный хвост, пафосными банальностями, повторениями одних и тех же пассажей, которые и при первом прочтении унылы и докучны, а при втором и последущих уже откровенно раздражают. Ну и, разумеется, такой милый провинциальный антисоветизм, любовно выливаемый на Ромена Роллана - хотел бы я знать, чем так провинился гуманист и пацифист.

Ergo: рука не поднялась озаглавить "прочитать". Впечатление о Кундере у меня теперь несколько подпорчено. ( )

הספר הטוב ביותר של קונדרה עד היום (או על כל פנים זה שגרם לי הכי הרבה להזדהות אתו).סיפור קטן ועצוב על שתי אחיות, מלא הפסקות והרהורים על העולם ועל הרומן. אלגיה ליופי ולאמת שהולכים ונעלמים ומוחלפים על ידי הקיטש ויחסי הציבור. ( )