Overview

• Kundera was known for novels like "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" that explored philosophical ideas through characters and themes.
• He faced controversy in communist Czechoslovakia over his dissident writings, leading to his works being banned and his emigration to France.
• Kundera became a French citizen in 1981 and lived in self-imposed exile in Paris, rarely returning even after the fall of communism.
• "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" gained him international acclaim in 1984 and was adapted into a successful film.
• Kundera's works were not published in his Czech homeland until after the Velvet Revolution ended communism in 1989.