A Nobel Scherzo for Milan Kundera: On „Understanding”

This article discusses possible reasons why Milan Kundera, a writer for decades considered oneof the main candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature, did not win it in the end. There exist certain„objective” circumstances that could have prevented this, but the article primarily addresses theissue of whether it is possible to identify Kundera’s literary qualities that could have confl icted withthe idea behind the Nobel Prize. In his „philosophy” of the novel, Kundera rejects „lyricism” („lyricalattitude”), while the specifi city of his own work consists in the presence of a „kynic” – in Peter Sloterdijk’sterm – coloring. Apart from Sloterdijk, the analysis refers to thinkers such as Emile Cioranand René Girard.