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Love

Kundera explores a question we all face, who am I? It's simple on the surface but extremely complex and nuanced. Kundera goes there. He peels the simple explanations and explores the more complex second thoughts. Yes, it changes, especially with your present mode. It's not constant, but it's always there, it won't go away. The amazing thing is that Kundera helps us explore by looking at someone else's exploration. Perhaps it's always easier when you can detach yourself from it and think this applies to them and not really you. But that's the magic, it's all about you. Just the names have been changed to allow you some deniability. You don't have to admit he's talking about the truth of everyone's existence. Fascinating trick. And done by a Czech, probably thinking in Czech, writing in French, and then translated by someone else into English. Amazing that it still rings true despite all the hoops it's gone through.

Chantal's the central character, her first marriage ended in divorce long ago. Her young son died at five years old, and she was feeling family pressure to have another. She resisted having sex with her husband to rebel against the pressure. Finding a lover, Jean-Marie, she quickly ended the marriage. She's been living with Jean-Marie for years. Is it time to marry? She's getting older, and let Jean-Maire know she's noticed that men no longer look at her.

Suddenly, letters appear in her mailbox without going through the postal system. Someone is watching her. She's intrigued and puts the letters in the drawer where she stores her brassieres, under them, and does not tell Jean-Marie about them. The letters keep coming and contain details that make her wonder who could be sending them and how they know so much about her. They're signed C.D.B. She begins to suspect neighbors and people standing in the street. She gets aroused by them and even purchases a red slip at their suggestion. She realizes C.D.B. stands for Cyrano du Bergerac, the famous fictional person who hides both his identity and his love for Roxanne. Eventually she realizes the author must be Jean-Marie, who has clearly discovered that she keeps the letters in her drawer.

Rather than being flattered, she is insulted that Jean-Marie has violated her private space and confronts him. How Kundera works out where this is going keeps us wondering. I'll only say there's a plot twist at the end which changes everything. I recommend reading it. ( )

Chantal y Jean-Marc viven juntos en París y se quieren, se quieren tanto que incluso parecen confundirse. Y es que, a veces, se dan situaciones en las que, por un instante, ninguno de los dos parece reconocerse, en el que la identidad del otro se disuelve y, de rechazo, duda de la suya propia. Todo el que ama, todo el que convive en pareja, lo ha vivido alguna vez, porque lo que más teme en el mundo quien ama es «perder de vista» al ser amado. Pues eso es lo que, poco a poco, va a empezar a ocurrirles a Chantal y a Jean-Marc. Pero ¿en qué instante, ante qué gesto y en qué circunstancia precisa comienza ese aterrador proceso? Kundera atrapa al lector en el pánico que acompaña ese instante de extravío y éste ya no tendrá más remedio que adentrarse en el laberinto que recorren Chantal y Jean-Marc y en el que más de una vez deberá cruzar la frontera de lo real y lo irreal —o entre lo que ocurre en el mundo exterior y lo que elabora una mente en solitario.

Roman. Een kleine roman over twee geliefden. Het gaat ook vooral over hoe we onszelf zien en hoe we denken dat de ander ons ziet. Herinneringen zijn belangrijk in het onderhouden van vriendschap. Tevens filosofische vraagstukken. Een wat kunstmatige constructie, wel interessant. ( )