| Milan Kundera & Feminism: Dangerous Intersections 1995 Edition Contributor(s): O'Brien, J. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0312122063 ISBN-13: 9780312122065 Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan OUR PRICE: $104.49 Product Type: Hardcover Published: July 1995 Annotation: Since sexuality and sexual politics account for the most consistently engaged tensions in Milan Kundera's fiction, it is surprising that critical attention to Kundera's work has yet to produce an extensive study that concentrates on the Czech novelist's problematic representations of women. In this study, O'Brien offers two such in-depth considerations: First he tracks the (mis)representations of the female characters; then he explores the promise of reading Kundera from the feminist perspective. Initially, O'Brien takes Kundera to task for representing women from a perspective dominated by either/or, opposition-based frameworks. Instead of dismissing Kundera as sexist, however, O'Brien takes these concerns further, arguing that a feminist-postmodernist approach shows Kundera exposing, not reinforcing, the misrepresentation of women. Using an eclectic perspective that draws on the insights of feminist criticism and deconstruction, the author looks to strong women, such as The Unbearable Lightness of Being's Sabina in order to develop a method of simultaneously appreciating the complicated surfaces and the paradoxical depths of Kundera's work. Considering O'Brien's own cross-purpose and Kundera's famous penchant for ambiguity, the duality of O'Brien's conclusions are appropriate. Milan Kundera & Feminism considers Kundera's contributions to the feminist critique of representation without ignoring the serious difficulties for the feminist reader. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Eastern European (see Also Russian & Former Soviet Union) - Literary Criticism | Modern - 20th Century |
| Dewey: 891.868 |
| LCCN: 94046777 |
| Physical Information: 0.72" H x 6" W x 8.88" (0.93 lbs) 178 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Eastern Europe |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: 'Eliot to Derrida is a book which should be read by all students contemplating enrolment for a university course in modern English or European literary studies.' - Times Higher Educational Supplement This study offers the first extensive critique of the problematic representation of women in the fiction of Milan Kundera, in particular the apparent reliance on simplistic binary oppositions in the representation of women (beauty/ugliness, Madonna/whore, free will/fate, and others). Without waving away these concerns, this study goes on to show that a feminist criticism attentive to poststructural theoretical perspectives is able to engage Kundera's work most fully. While remaining ambivalent about a number of Kundera's representational strategies, this consideration of Kundera suggest that Kundera exposes the very narrative practices and representational strategies that he seems to proliferate himself on the misogynist surface of these expansive novels. Using an eclectic perspective that draws on the insights and methodology of feminist criticism, poststructuralism, and deconstruction, O'Brien argues that the character of Sabina herself offers the most effective paradigm for reading Kundera's work. Suggesting a dual vision of surface/depth, this understanding of Kundera accounts for the simplistic surfaces and ambiguous depths, both of which pose serious problems for the feminist reader. |