Sidharth Vardhan's Reviews > The Curtain: An Essay in Seven Parts

To anyone who may be interested in or has already read and enjoyed this book, I highly recommend 'The Art of Novel' from same author - preferably read that one before this book. The Art of Novel explores some of same themes in a far more detailed manner as each of those themes get their own essays - the one on history of Novel and another of Kafka for example. Here Kundera is only discussing those subjects in passing. I also recommend that book if you wish to read Kundera's own novels better.

I am not gonna write a detailed review here as it would only be quotations for most part but one advantage of reading either of aforementioned books for a serious reader as well as a novelist would be to help them distinguish the excellent works from books that suffer from 'just another novel' syndrome. Kundera, like Nabokov, probably hates detective novels because of their very 'generic' nature.

On goodreads itself, many serious readers seem to suffer from a liking for Kitsch and a dislike for vulgar. There is a desire to read books about social issues (from global warming to women's rights to whatever) - and it seems such books are more likely to make award lists (I am thinking English Booker prize here) - especially if they are written by migrants than other better written novels that probably do more to raise the 'curtain' (of course, there are excellent books written by migrants too). I can understand reading an excellent book and finding oneself getting aware of social issue because of that, but to read a book just because it discusses a social issue! The thing is even if you read a hundred books about global warming, it would make health of environment an iota better. Charlotte Bronte wrote a heartfelt novel in Jane Eyre and did more to inspire generations of feminists than her younger sister Anne Bronte who wrote her masterpiece explicitly to instruction the young ladies. Kundera prefers vulgar over Kitsch - he probably would have been more impressed by a Miller than an average book whining about lives of poor souls.


International Booker lists in this regard are probably better - where books so often are shorter, more intense, challenging conventional ways of novels. I guess that's because International prize goes to translations. And between time novel was published and time when it got translated, the book had proven its value.


That's too much rambling already. There is one point though I have to make - Kundera's two novels about history of novel fail to mention name of a single Asian or African novel excepting Rushdi (which is understandable given how few novels from those continents he may have a chance to come across); but also there is not even one female author. Even taking Kundera's very high standards you could argue that at least someone like Jane Austen, Mary Shelly, Charlotte Bronte or Virginia Woolf - at least one of them could find at least a passing reference in his history. It's not criticism of his values, everyone has his own criteria of judgment after all and Kundera is definitely one of best living authors IMO.