The Curtain: An Essay in Seven Parts
 

The Curtain: An Essay in Seven Parts

by Milan Kundera

In this thought-provoking, endlessly enlightening, and entertaining essay on the art of the novel, renowned author Milan Kundera suggests that "the curtain" represents a ready-made perception of the world that each of us has—a pre-interpreted world. The job of the novelist, he argues, is to rip through the curtain and reveal what it hides. Here an incomparable literary artist cleverly... (read more)

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Rebecca M
  • Rated 5 stars

Milan Kundera's essay draws the curtain back to reveal the treasures of "die Weltliteratur" as he traces the threads of continuity in novels by Rabelais, Cervantes, Fielding, Dostoevsky, Kafka and many more. He eschews the cultural "isms" that weigh down our understanding of literature.
Although a work of non-fiction, The Curtain is a beautiful exposition on aesthetics as it is applied not only to literature, but to music as well. Kundera tells us to read and re-read with new eyes,...

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  • Rated 4.037037 stars
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  • Rated 5 stars
 

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  • shailendra

    shailendra said:

    I am reading this now a days and like the true Kundera fan have been trying hard to learn the skill to look at things differently...

    posted Sunday, December 23 2007
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