Milan Kundera, Czech novelist known for ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being,’ dies

Award-winning Czech author Milan Kundera, whose legacy includes novels “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” and “The Festival of Insignificance,” has died.

French publishing house Gallimard announced Kundera’s death Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. The Gallimard website featured a banner of Kundera with his birth and death years.

Born in Czechoslovakia in April 1929, Kundera was known for intertwining erotic tones with anti-Soviet sentiment in a variety of short stories, essays and poems. His 1984 work, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” best exemplified his approach to literature — weaving themes of love, politics and exile into a work that would earn him critical acclaim among his literary community.

In 1998, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” was adapted into a Philip Kaufman film of the same name starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin.

Kundera’s works also include novels “The Joke,” “Immortality,” “Identity” and “The Festival of Insignificance.”

The novelist, who often shied away from press, talked about his work in a rare interview with the Paris Review.

“A novel is a meditation on existence, seen through imaginary characters. The form is unlimited freedom,” he said. “Throughout its history, the novel has never known how to take advantage of its endless possibilities. It missed its chance.”