The Curtain: An Essay in Seven Parts

“An elegant, personalized integration of anecdote, analysis, scholarship, memory and speculation. . . . Not since Henry James, perhaps, has a fiction writer examined the process of writing with such insight, authority and range of reference and allusion.” —Russell Banks, New York Times Book Review

“A magic curtain, woven of legends, hung before the world. Cervantes sent Don Quixote journeying and tore through the curtain. The world opened before the knight-errant in all the comical nakedness of its prose.”

In this thought-provoking, endlessly enlightening, and entertaining essay on the art of the novel, renowned author Milan Kundera suggests that “the curtain” represents a ready-made perception of the world that each of us has—a pre-interpreted world. The job of the novelist, he argues, is to rip through the curtain and reveal what it hides.

Here an incomparable literary artist cleverly sketches out his personal view of the history and value of the novel in Western civilization. In doing so, he celebrates a prose form that possesses the unique ability to transcend national and language boundaries in order to reveal some previously unknown aspect of human existence.

But what is the unique knowledge only the novel can provide?

• The Art of the Novel: Kundera’s deeply personal definition of a prose form that exists to tear through the “curtain” of pre-interpreted reality.
• A History of Forgetting: An exploration of how memory transforms and erases, and why the novel is a unique fortress against the fleeting, ghostly nature of the past.
• Central European Modernism: A passionate defense of Kafka, Broch, and Musil, and how their antilyrical, analytical novels charted a different course for European literature.
• Aesthetics and Existence: Why concepts like kitsch, vulgarity, and the comical are not just artistic terms but keys to understanding the human condition.

“A magic curtain, woven of legends, hung before the world. Cervantes sent Don Quixote journeying and tore through the curtain. The world opened before the knight-errant in all the comical nakedness of its prose.”

In this thought-provoking, endlessly enlightening, and entertaining essay on the art of the novel, renowned author Milan Kundera suggests that “the curtain” represents a ready-made perception of the world that each of us has—a pre-interpreted world. The job of the novelist, he argues, is to rip through the curtain and reveal what it hides. Here an incomparable literary artist cleverly sketches out his personal view of the history and value of the novel in Western civilization. In doing so, he celebrates a prose form that possesses the unique ability to transcend national and language boundaries in order to reveal some previously unknown aspect of human existence.

“A swiftly told, beautifully crafted, pleasurable. . . scrutiny of the novel. . . . To Mr. Kundera, the novel is a liberating force.” - The Economist

“Bursting at the seams with ideas. . . Kundera dashes irrepressibly around his own studio. . . to consistently fascinating effect. A rare pleasure.” - Steven Poole, New Statesman

“As the French expression goes, Kundera always gives you furiously to think…[He] writes…with passion.” - Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World

“Kundera offers witty and edifying improvisations on…favorite themes…Anyone interested in the novel will delight in this book.” - Alec Solomita, New York Sun

“Well-worth reading. . . witty and brisk and very smart, like all of [Kundera’s] writing.” - William Deresiewicz, The Nation

“Lovely, meandering observations on the genre to which he has consecrated his life. . . . Like good love stories, it pulls you in.” - Philadelphia Inquirer

“Kundera’s essay so perfectly distilles an approach to art that it realigns the way an art form is understood.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Essential reading in a long history of debates about the genre. . . . Wise, deep, and witty.” - New York Review of Books

“A work of sophisticated literary cartography. . . agreeably studded with insights.” - Wall Street Journal

“An elegant, personalized integration of anecdote, analysis, scholarship, memory and speculation. . . . Not since Henry James, perhaps, has a fiction writer examined the process of writing with such insight, authority and range of reference and allusion. . . Kundera’s opinions, reflections, memories and desires are well worth listening to.” - New York Times Book Review

“Brilliant, vehement, learned and wise…Stimulating and provocative…THE CURTAIN raises essential questions.” - Salon.com

“Kundera…argues brilliantly…Discarding chronology, [he] lets us witness the inner workings of his....wonderful reader’s mind.” - Cecile Alduy, San Francisco Chronicle

“Evocative...Kundera marvelously conducts us on a journey through the history of the novel.” - Library Journal

“Kundera is assuredly one of the great living writers. . . . This is a remarkable book. . . . Absorbing and sometimes sublime.” - Buffalo News