This is more than a literary critique -- it is a work of perception, of analysis that reveals a portrait of Kundera the novelist as one of the greatest demystifiers of our time. This significant work deals with all of Milan Kundera's novels up to his most recent work, Slowness, which marks the beginning of a new phase of his writing. It is the first work that studies Kundera as a novelist, rather than a philosopher or intellectual guide, and the only one that diverges from the beaten path in examining and in reflecting on the composition and style of these novels, to discern the...

For the past four centuries, five major languages have dominated Western literature. This domination has excluded or rendered marginal all other literatures -- has, in effect, diminished literary diversity and endangered the existence of the literature of "smaller" cultures.

In an illuminating defence for their preservation, Francois Pare reflects on the diversity of cultures and languages in the world and on the fantastic richness of "smaller" literatures. He offers us memorable samples of this diversity and, in his original and thought-provoking style, tantalizes us with...