h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi!

I worked my way through most of his many years ago. Unbearable Lightness is probably his best.

After a while, I got a bit bored with the way he likes to portray himself as a sexual adventurer. OK - so admittedly I am from the most uptight culture in Europe - but he did seem to be making a big issue of his general liberality and loucheness. But then - I'm not sure that his sexual attitudes are atypical of Czechs in general, so I wasn't sure why he was highlighting them. Unless, maybe, it was a subversive contrast with the Russians.

btw - I've just discovered that a woman at my local high-quality wine shop is Finnish. I'll have to think of something witty (and pronounceable!) to say to her.

Hello!

Hanging my head in shame I must admit that I'm still on page 50 of Unbearable Lightness. I feel the weight of its classic status on my shoulders. Luckily tomorrow I'm leaving for my grandma's place for a week, and since her house is void of the comforts of modern technology, I'll be forced to give it another try. At least it's got a good name going for it.

I hadn't thought about the main character being Kundera's alter ego. Is it something he's confessed to?

So you have an image of Russians being uptight? Funny, we don't have that stereotype here. A lot of nasty stereotypes about them, but not that one.

>>something witty (and pronounceable!)<< That might prove to be a difficult combination.

But...the Russians aren't the party people that the Czechs are, are they? Certainly the Soviet government wouldn't have approved of unbridled sexual passion. I read it as similar to the contrast between the revolutionary sexuality of Rock and Roll and the previous uptight American conservative attitudes. The Soviets didn't like Rock and Roll either - but all the Czechs were grooving to The Velvet Undergound and Frank Zappa and pasing their lyrics around as Samizdat. (hence 'The Velvet Revolution')

Maybe I'm wrong - but I always assumed that *all* Kundera's main characters are his alter egos.

Anyway - he's not my favourite writer. For a wonderful, satirical Czech - seek out 'The War With The Newts' by Karel Capek (upside-down circumflex on the C)

Yeah, I'm sure rock and roll didn't go down well with the Soviets. I was really surprised to find out that the people in the satellite states had free access to Western pop culture. You'd have thought that the Soviets would have wanted everything to come from them, from the east.

Ah, now - some of the more interesting and subversive rock and roll available in the Soviet Bloc was due to the influence of this man: A457094 who broadcast on the BBC World Service. A few years ago he made a documentary which featured some East German punks who had been arrested for listening to him covertly.

The Soviets were definitely worried about pop music. At one time, as a pressure valve, they made their own TV version of The Beatles' 'Let It Be'.

I visited Leningrad (as it was) in Gorbachev's first year. People were keen to buy casettes from me. The Smiths and The Jesus and Mary Chain seemed to go down particularly well.

>>their own TV version of The Beatles' 'Let It Be'<<
Must have been fun

A lot sure has changed in twenty years. Sometimes I wonder how people who have experienced both eras don't sprain their brain thinking about the differences between now and then.