The Farewell Party - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140045392 ISBN 13: 9780140045390

Publisher: Penguin, 1978

Synopsis

Kundera's novel was banned in Czechoslovakia but accalaimed in France and the United States. The story takes a comic but chilling look at the peaceful, self-contained world of a fertility spa, which becomes the setting for a compelling psychological drama when famous jazz trumpeter Klima receives a telephone call telling him that health-resort nurse Ruzena is pregnant, following a night with him. As he tries to persuade Ruzena to have an abortion other lives are drawn into their delicate conflict. The resulting ironies are very funny, and as the story moves towards its denouement, the unsparing clarity of Kundera's insight and the countless twists of his narrative illuminate the ambiguity at the core of life and the intricate strategies by which we live.

About this title

Book Description:

Kundera's novel takes a comic but chilling look at the peaceful, self-contained world of a fertility spa, which becomes the setting for a compelling psychlogical drama.

About the Author:

Kundera is the son of a famous pianist and was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia. He joined the Communist Party when he was eighteen, but was expelled from the party two years later. He settled in Prague, where he worked as a musician, writer and film-maker. He was appointed a Professor in the Film Faculty of the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. He has published three collections of poetry, a book of essays, short stories and several plays and his novel "The Joke" sold 120,000 copies. It did not amuse the authorities, however, and after the Soviet invasion Kundera lost his job and his books were banned and removed from public libraries.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1978
• ISBN 10: 0140045392
• ISBN 13: 9780140045390
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224