Jana Beranová Book order (chronological)
Jana Beranová crafts poetry and prose, recognized also for her translations of novels by Milan Kundera and many Czech poets. Recurring themes in her writing explore fragility and society, alongside the enduring beauty of nature. She frequently collaborates with visual artists and musicians. Her dedication to literature has been acknowledged, and she has served as a city poet.
The author 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 hima 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 somber farce.
Lachwekkende liefdes
- 219 pages
- 8 hours of reading
Verhalen.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
- 328 pages
- 12 hours of reading
In this story of irreconcilable loves and infidelities, Milan Kundera addresses himself to the nature of 20th century "Being". The novel encompasses the extremes of comedy and tragedy, and embraces, it seems, all aspects of human existence