Previous

Genre 

Love story; political novel; novel of ideas

Narrator 

The author, Milan Kundera, or fictionalized version thereof

Climax 

A different climax can be identified in each of the character's stories; for Tomas, the arguable climax is his decision to return to Prague from the free West

Protagonist 

Tomas is main protagonist; other protagonists are Tereza, Sabina, and Franz

Setting (Time) 

Mid-1960s to early 1980s

Setting (Place) 

Prague; small town in Bohemia; Czech countryside; Switzerland; America

Point of View 

First person narration from author Kundera's point of view; follows alternately one then another character

Falling Action 

Sabina wills body to be cremated after death, wonders if any betrayals are left in her life

Tense 

Past tense

Foreshadowing 

Constant, as author/narrator tells story non-chronologically and instead by ideas and associations

Tone 

Cynical; amused; compassionate; contemplative

Symbols 

Books; suitcase; bowler hat; stocking; signed document; tombstone

Motifs 

The body; kitsch; artwork; written texts

Other 

Partly autobiographical text; Kundera was a leftist in youth, a silenced intellectual in Prague after 1968, and a permanent émigré settled in Paris thereafter

Previous section Themes

Popular pages: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Take a Study Break