英美文学选读论文

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Introduction:The unbearable Lightness of Being opens with a philosophical discussion of lightness versus heaviness.Kundera contrasts Neitzsche's philosophy of eternal return ,or of heaviness, with Parmenides' understanding of life as light .Kundera wonders if any meaning or weight can be attributed to life,since there is no eternal return :if man only has the opportunity to try one path, to make one decision ,he cannot return to take a different path, and then compare the two lives .Without the ability to compare lives ,Kundera argues, we cannot find meaning; where meaning should exist we find only an unbearable weightlessness .The uncertain existence of meaning ,and the opposition of lightness and heaviness ,the key dichotomy of The Unbearable Lightness of Being ,sets the stage for the entire novel.

The year is 1968 .The protagonist, Tomas, a brilliant Prague surgeon ,pursues a philosophy of lightness in his erotic adventures and exploits .Briefly married in the past ,he neither sees nor wishes to see his ex-wife or young son and is comfortably established as a perpetual bechalor. He meets Tereza, a cafe waitress in a town he visits ,and realizes when she follows him to Prague that she intends to "offer him up her life."A determined libertine ,he momentarily resists his budding romantic feelings for her ,then gives in to his love .

Tereza had been living a frustrated life as a waitress in a small town ,and dreamed of escaping ,especially from her vulgar mother .She recognizes in Tomas an intellectual and dreamer, and falls in love with him instantly . The two live together ,but Tomas is unable to give up his mistresses .For a while he hides his infidelity from Tereza .Eventually he admits to it ,but claims that his sexuality is entirely separate from his love fof her .Tereza, unable to accept his behavior or adopt a light attitude towards sex , suffers increasingly from nightmares ,and contemplates suicide .

The events of the Prague Spring result in the Soviet military occupation of the city. Tomas, who in the past wrote a article condemning the Czech Communists, is warned to leave .Sabina flees first ,and later Tomas and Tereza join her in Switzerland .Tereza, eho found some fulfillment in her job as photographer in Prague ,realizes that in Zurich she is jobless and must sit at home while Tomas continues having affairs. She decides that "when the strong wre too weak to hurt the weak ,the weak had to be strong enough to leave ,"and returns to Prague. Tomas attempts to enjoy his newly recovered freedom for a few days ,then gives up and returns to Prague and Tereza .The return truly means giving up freedom-there is no chance that the couple will be allowed to leave again. In Prague ,Tomas’political trouble escalate .He loses his possition as surgeon for refusing to sign a denunciation of his anti-communist article .Both the communist regime and underground dissidents attempts to seduce him to their side .His own son reappears as a young dissident and preaches to Tomas with no success, for Tomas hates the ides of being used politically in the same way Sabina hates artistic kitsch. In the end ,Tomas seeks obscurity in a job washing windows. His fame persists, however, and he continues seducing the women he works for.

Tereza, now a bar-tender ,in a moment of desperation has an affair with a tall engineer who comes to her bar. She dose so in hopes of coming closer to Tomas life ;instead she grows more moserable and becomes convinced the man was a police agent hired to gather potential blackmailing material .After many scenes and nightmares, she convinces Tomas to move with to the country. This means giving up their way of life entirely ,and an end to Tomas' erotic adventure