Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100Sat, 25 Jul 2026 08:10:53 +0200https://english.radio.cz/michal-prochazka-lightening-kunderas-unbearable-burden-history-8602716© 2026 Radio Prague International Last week the best-known living Czech author, Milan Kundera, was awarded the State Prize for Literature. The award sparked plenty of debate about the 78-year-old writer, who's lived in France since the 1970s and rarely returns to his homeland; he was not present to collect the award, citing ill health. It was given for the Czech edition of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which was published in French in 1984 but not published in Czech - officially - until last year. Kundera's three most recent novels - published in French and translated into English - are still unavailable in his native tongue. All that has led some to accuse him of turning his back on his country. But is that fair? Rob Cameron discussed the matter recently with literary critic and Pravo journalist Michal Prochazka, and he began by asking him whether we could still consider Kundera a "Czech" writer. encr@radio.cz (Cesky Rozhlas)webmaster@radio.cz (CRo Webmaster) https://english.radio.cz/sites/default/files/images/4f5197446b1f6808606b2a0aab5e5a67.png?timestamp=1583150525 https://english.radio.cz/michal-prochazka-lightening-kunderas-unbearable-burden-history-8602716 Radio Prague International Radio Prague International radio.prague.int@gmail.com clean 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9