Divided Within the Self| The Struggle of Finding Identity in Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being

• Main Author: Nemec, Jessica
• Language: EN
• Published: Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville 2018
• Subjects: Literature|European studies|Rhetoric
• Online Access: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10684629

<p> Authors often explore the details of identity and body politics through their writing. Czech author Milan Kundera&rsquo;s novel <i>The Unbearable Lightness of Being</i> deals heavily with the marginalized and oppressed body, considering how such bodies function, how they perceive themselves, how they are perceived by others, and how such bodies are, by nature, a defiance of an established hegemony. The novel considers the exiled body and how such exile can deliver freedom, cause further marginalization, or craft an ambivalent mixture of the two. The oppressed and marginalized body, as understood through literature, acts not just as a mirror of society but also as an avenue for navigating a subject as dense as identity and body politics.</p><p>