In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera tells the story of two couples, a young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing, and one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover. In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. Hence, we feel "the unbearable lightness of being" not only as the consequence of our pristine actions but also in the public sphere, and the two inevitably intertwine.
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NEC's view
What we found most compelling in The Unbearable Lightness of Being is its central tension between “lightness” and “weight,” and the idea that freedom without responsibility can feel empty, while commitments, even burdens, can give life meaning. Set against Soviet-era Prague, the novel turns this abstract question into something lived through love, betrayal, and choice.
