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Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofSarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
MY AMI PRIWARDHANI Student Number: 994214025
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
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UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEINGANDLIFE IS ELSEWHERE
By
MY AMI PRIWARDHANI Student Number: 994214025
Approved by
Dr. Novita Dewi, MA (hons) 18 September 2006 Advisor
iii By
MY AMI PRIWARDHANI Student Number: 994214025
Defended before the Board of Examiners On 31 October 2006
And Declared Acceptable
Board of Examiners
Chairperson : Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd.,M.A ____________________ Secretary : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum ____________________
Member : Dra. Sri Mulyani, M.A ____________________ Member : Dr. Novita Dewi, M.S., M.A(Hons) ____________________ Member : Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd.,M.A ____________________
Yogyakarta, 31 October 2006 Faculty of Letters
Sanata Dharma University Dean
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various personalities and perspectives who contributed a lot, not only in the process of writing this thesis, but also in understanding things I find in my everyday life. To these people I owe some debts and feel appropriate to thank:
To Bapak-Ibu, who have a very big heart to understand and a willingness to
listen to negotiations and bargains: that finishing this thesis and graduating are one package laid side by side with other similarly interesting package.
To Dr. Novita Dewi, my advisor, who always has a big box of ideas, time and,
of course, challenges. I do not feel like writing a thesis but competing and experimenting with ideas.
To Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd.,M.A, my Co-advisor, for providing his time to read
the first draft and contributing ideas to this thesis.
To Father Budi Susanto, S.J. who has helped me broaden my knowledge and sharpen my understanding on things.
To Seanna Sumalee Oakley who taught me the pleasure of reading literature.
Which surpeisingly I found after four years becoming astudent of English Literature. To Gayl D.Ness who has worked on my English grammar and expressions anytime I wanted it. Thank you for not just being an advisor but also a friend.
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Dhika. You created places and spaces not only for friendships but also for different
perspectives. Fenty, Ari, Dinun, Tiwi and Siska. We used to sit together in classes, to gossip in the campus alley. You guys made my college years fun. Ius, Elis, Mas Banning-Mbak Wigati, Jalu, Taru, Simbok-Kang Agoeng, Mas Prim-Mbak Dian and Lulud. There were thousand places to play around, but yours were the most
interesting, adventurous, inspiring and challenging. To Ninik and Nita, with whom I have passed the merry youth years. Wiwik, Ririn, Puji, and Mbak Menik: the housemates. I passed this most different yet fortunate year of my college years in our
house.
To all friends I found in Ann Arbor: The Goslings: Mya, Pete and Linda, Jesse Johnston and Todd Wilkinson.
And to all of those, who, with or without their awareness, have inspired me with their ideas and spirit, without which this thesis will not come into being.
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APPROVAL PAGE………..ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE………iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……….iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS……….vi
ABSTRACT………...viii
ABSTRAK………...ix
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION………1
A. Background of the Study………..1
B. Problem Formulation………3
C. Objectives of the Study……….4
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW………..5
A. Review of Related Studies………...5
1. Review ofThe Unbearable Lightness of Being………....5
2. Review ofLife is Elsewhere………...7
B. Review of Related Theories………...9
1. On the Body………...9
2. On Art……….10
3. On Relationship………...12
4. Review on Czechoslovakia’s History 1948-late 1960’s……….13
5. On Kundera’s Ideas about Novels………..15
C. Theoretical Framework………...16
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY………..18
A. Object of the Study……….18
B. Approach of the Study………19
C. Method of the Study………....21
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS………...22
A. The Portrayal of Female Characters through the Body, Art and Male-Female Relationship……….22
1. The Portrayals of Female Characters through their Body………..22
a. Maman and Tereza: The Denial of the Body………... 23
b. Sabina: The Celebration of The Body……….27
2. The Portrayals of Female Characters through Art………..30
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B. The Portrayals of the Male Characters According to the Body, Art and
Male-Female Relationship………53
1. The Portrayals of Male Characters through the Body………...53
a. The Male Obsession over Female Bodies………54
b. The Varied Perception of the Body………...62
2. The Portrayals of Male Characters through Art………...65
a. A Pursuit of Imagined Reality……….66
b. A Search of Recognition………..71
3. The Portrayals of Male Characters through Their Relationship with Their Opposite Sex………...76
a. Self-Centered Relationship………..76
b. Varied Attitude Toward Sex and Love………....81
C. The Author and His Works: A Contextual Reading………...88
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION………...99
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of Being and Life is Elsewhere. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letter, Sanata Dharma University
Milan Kundera is a Czechoslovakia-born writer whose life history is closely entangled with the country’s political upheaval. Written in different time and represented different period of Czechoslovakia’s history, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Life is Elsewhere are his two novels which represent the author’s experience. Both novels, however, share some similarities and differences in the discussion on the body, arts and male-female relationship according to their male and female characters’ perspectives.
There are three objectives suggested by this study. The first is to find out the portrayal of female characters through their perspective of the body, arts and male-female relationships. The second is to examine the portrayal of the male characters through the body, arts and male-female relationship. The third is to contextualize those portrayals with the author’s socio-political background.
This study applies intertextuality as its approach. This approach suggests that the author’s depiction on his characters through the body, arts and male-female relationship can be understood by looking at the other text, namely his socio-political background.
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Lightness of Being and Life is Elsewhere. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Milan Kundera adalah seorang pengarang yang lahir di Cekoslowakia. Karya-karyanya berkaitan erat dengan kondisi sosio-politik di negara asalnya. The Unbearable Lightness of Being dan Life is Elsewhere ditulis dalam kurun waktu berbeda dan bercerita tentang kurun sejarah yang berbeda pula. Meski demikian, ada beberapa persamaan dan perbedaan dalam kedua novel tersebut, yakni penggambaran soal tubuh, seni dan relasi laki-laki – perempuan yang diartikulasikan lewat tokoh-tokoh dalam dua novel tersebut.
Studi ini bertujuan untuk, pertama, mengetahui bagaimana pengambaran karakter perempuan lewat persepsi mereka tentang tubuh, seni dan relasi laki-laki – perempuan. Kedua, mengetahui bagaimana penggambaran tokoh laki-laki lewat persepsi mereka tentang tubuh, seni dan relasi laki-laki- perempuan. Ketiga, untuk mengetahui bagaimana penggambaran-penggambaran itu terkait dengan konteks sosio-politik pengarangnya.
Studi ini menggunakan pendekatan intertekstualitas. Pendekatan ini melihat bahwa penggambaran para tokoh tentang tubuh, seni dan relasi laki-laki – perempuan dapat dipahami dengan cara melihat ‘teks’ lain, yaitu konteks sosio-politik pengarangnya.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Milan Kundera is an émigré Czech author whose works are known to have
sociopolitical values. He emigrated to France amidst prosecutions and purges of the
Communist government in Czechoslovakia after a popular movement demanding more
freedom in the country in 1968. Kundera was one of those who supported the movement, as
well as one of those who participated in the massive exodus out of the Communist-raided
country. Since then, he has written in France; most of his books have been about
Czechoslovakia.
It is Kundera’s success as an internationally-known writer that has made him a
controversial figure. Respected and adored, he was mentioned in the memoir of Vaclav
Havel, the recent president of Czechoslovakia, who was elected after the Communist’s fall.
People also consider Kundera’s works classic, together with those of European writers such
as Franz Kafka. Given that the subject of his writings raised controversy among his
colleagues in Czechoslovakia, some said that Kundera wrote as if he were not a Communist
before. Others proposed that his idea of looking at the experience of Czechoslovakia was too
black and white; arguing that what he wrote was what the West wanted to hear about such
life experience (Havel. 1990:171).
With such a background, it is interesting to study Milan Kundera’s works, because
Kundera writes, or what every author writes, has universal value which can be grasped out of
the boundary of time and place.
Thus, this study attempts to analyze two of Kundera’s novels, The Unbearable
Lightness of Being and Life is Elsewhere and then to contextualize them with Kundera’s
experience as an individual and author who lived in Czechoslovakia at a certain historical
time. The first novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, is set during the period of the
Communist reformation and the post Russian invasion in 1968. The second one is set at the
emergence of Communism in Czechoslovakia after the World War II.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being is basically a love story of its four main
characters, blended with a rich historical background that influences each character’s
decision. Life is Elsewhere is also a story of relationship, this time, between a son and his
mother. Like the first one, this novel also uses historical situation as the main anchor of the
character’s action.
Eventhough both novels reveal different settings and stories, they share some
common topics, e.g. ideas on the body, art, and male-female relationships. These topics of the
body, art and male-female relationship become the instrument to know how Kundera
characterizes his characters. Each character in both novels has her/his restlessness about
her/his own body or that of others. Some have inferiority complex, since they do not posses
physical beauty. Some question their identity through their body. Art becomes an important
topic because every character is described to have intimacy of some kind with art. Some of
them are producers of art (artists), some of them are interested in art as part of their
consumptions. Male and female relationship becomes the tie that binds the stories. The
told. Not all characters have successful relationship with his/her opposite sex, since each of
them has his/her own opinion on relationship.
Further, it is also tempting to compare and contrast male and female characters’ point
of view toward those three topics. It seems that Kundera’s portrayals of his characters are
mapped into a certain general pattern. In terms of male-female relationship, some characters
can be categorized as dependent and romantic. Some other is much more free and not
demanding. There are also characters who are in the tension between one category and the
other.
Every work of art reflects the spirit of the era when it was written or the life
experience of the author. So it is with The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Life is
Elsewhere. One cannot avoid comparing Milan Kundera’s life experience with some
particular setting in the books, or some ideas, or characters. In other words, Kundera’s life
attitude is packed in the two novels. Contextualization, in this study, is not merely comparing
the ‘coincidences’ of the author real life and the events in the novels. Yet, it is much more on
the process of understanding what Kundera thinks about one certain time in history, which,
coincidently, happened in Czechoslovakia. Thus, the next task of this study is finding out
what such portrayals of the characters say about Milan Kundera’s own views on time and
place he used to live?
B. Problem Formulation
To work on the topic presented above, the problems are formulated as follows:
1) How do The Unbearable Lightness of Beingand Life is Elsewhereportray the female
2) How do The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Life is Elsewhere portray the male
character’s perception on the body, art and male-female relationship?
3) How are these portrayals contextualized with the author’s sociopolitical background?
C. Objective of the Study
This study aims at identifying the portrayals of the male and female characters’
through their perception on the body, art and male-female relationship in The Unbearable
Lightness of BeingandLife is Elsewhere. In the end, this study also attempts to see how those
CHAPTER II
THEORICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
1 Reviews ofThe Unbearable Lightness of Being
Being the mark of Kundera’s peak of literary career, The Unbearable Lightness of
Being has been studied by many critics. Most of them study Kundera’s reflection on the
philosophical theme of the novel, namely, the concept of lightness and weight, which is
generated from Nietzsche’s idea on eternal return. Petra von Morstein, for example, argues
that the idea of the eternal return is represented in the fate of the two protagonists in the
novel, Tomas and Tereza, and in the nature of their relationship. According to Morstein,
eternal return is an idea that everything in human life will occur and re-occur again. Not a
scientific idea as it cannot be proved as truth; yet, Morstein argues, it expresses “existential
awareness, what it feels like to be human” (Morstein, 1989:65). Those who accept the idea
of the eternal return will feel the greatest weight, a burden to see that every pain will be
always painful. While those who deny it, will live in lightness, that everything only occurs
once, and moving to other circumstances, as if the previous is insignificant. Further, Mostein
suggests that without eternal return, every moment is a coincidence, while in eternal return
“chance is immediately transformed into necessity. Every moment is necessary. As every
occurrence in life encompasses the totality of history…the idea of eternal return holds the
integration of every experience with every other, of living in total harmony with oneself, as
live in complete way, and not ‘fall apart’. The character in the novel expressing lightness is
Tomas. Yet, his feeling to Tereza cannot be explained with this concept, for he is in love with
her, which is out of his concern as a womanizer. Tomas, according to Morstein, “experiences
the disconnection of lived experience and rational reflection”(Morstein, 1989:72). Tereza, on
the other hand, is the representation of weight, in her acceptance of eternal return. Therefore,
she accepts her life fully. Such acceptance is different from passive acceptance. Tereza’s is
different, since she has ‘the vision of reality’, which enables her to live ‘down to earth’
(Morstein, 1989; 74). Tomas finally accepts the weight, which is expressed by the final scene
of his togetherness with Tereza. At the end of the novel, so Morstein argues, Tomas finally
“develop[s] the ability to accept her as his fate” (Morstein,1989:75).
Other critic, Italo Calvino, also states that the opposition of light-weight becomes one
of the main topics in Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Quite different from
Morstein, Calvino tends to give credit to lightness as the main message of the novel: “ In
reality, this novel is dedicated to lightness speaks to us above all of constraint; the web of
public and private constraints that envelops people that exercises its weight over every human
relationship” (Calvino, 1989:55). Calvino defines lightness as “…that which is opposed to
irrevocability, to exclusive univocity” (Calvino, 1989: 54). He argues that this notion of
lightness is expressed in many aspects of the novel, such as the description of motivations of
the characters’ deeds, which he considers ‘light’, for example, the Don Juanism (expressed in
Tomas) which is motivated either by seeking an ideal woman or ‘a universal knowledge in
diversity’.
Francois Ricard studies the idyll (state of beauty) represented in each character in
the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. According to Ricard, every character in the novel
bears the longing for idyll. There are two categories of idyll presented: innocent idyll and
idyll of experience. Innocent idyll expresses the abolition of individual and the rejection of
the limits including morality and norms. The idyll of experience is the anti-idyll itself. It
transcends the innocent idyll which often prefers ‘the world beyond’ to ‘the world down
here’ (Ricard, 1989:21). Furthermore, Ricard argues that the idylls are particularly the result
of Kundera’s experience with Communism.
While the critics above try to balance out the idea of lightness and weight in The
Unbearable Lightness of Being, this study is different. It is much closer to what Ricard does.
If Ricard studies the relatedness between Kundera’s life experience and one aspect of the
novel, e.g. idyll, this study is the expansion of what Ricard has done. This study particularly
will explore Kundera’s depiction on his characters trough the body, arts and male-female
relationship and contextualize it with his experience and ideas. Thus, this study will explore
more the notion of relatedness between Kundera’s works and his life experience through
other aspects of the novel, which are the body, arts and male-female relationship.
2 Reviews ofLife is Elsewhere
Life is Elsewhere has received rather hard criticisms compared to The Unbearable
Lightness of Being, which is considered as one of Kundera’s most brilliant novels by the
Western critics. Some of the critics I mention later consider that Life is Elsewheredoes not
receive critical claims as other Kundera’s classic such asThe Unbearable Lightness of Being
andThe Book of Laughter and Forgettingdo. Dan Schneider states thatLife is Elsewhereis
characterization of Jaromil, the main protagonist, which, according to him, has lack of
“core…in which makes Jaromil tick. He is just, in essence, a poet so that Kundera can have
him claim he’s a poet…” Furthermore, Schneider also states that by this lack of
characterization, Kundera does not want to deliver a story, but to make a statement about art,
which is implied in the novel by the allusions to other lyrical poets such as Rimbaud, Byron
and Shelley who are juxtaposed with Jaromil’s experience.
(http://www.cosmoetica.com/B268-DES208.htm, accessed on April 15, 2006)
Paul Theroux, in his review ofLife is Elsewhere published byThe New York Times
Book Reviewon July 28, 1974, argues that the novel bears Kundera’s main political statement
“that in a society with strict rules a poet risks betraying his lyricism” Kundera compares
Jaromil’s life with those of the lyrical poet such as Rimbaud. Yet, as Theroux argued,
Kundera puts him at the point of the most ‘irresponsible’ character, by describing him
sacrificing his girlfriend’s happiness to serve his idealism. Furthermore, Theroux argues that
Kundera’s criticism on the lyrical attitude does not work that well, since ‘it looks too much as
if Kundera is shooting a clumsy fish in a very small barrel. And it is not a very convincing
rebuttal of the heroics of Byron and Shelley or the poetic mind in general. It is particularizing
of an isolated case of perversity--metrical feet shod with jackboots. It does put one in mind of
that…the whole tradition of Soviet writing which, as Nabokov once remarked, has about it
"the smell of the prison library." By making Jaromil a partisan he makes him insignificant as
poet.’ (http://www.nytimes.com/books/74/07/28/special/kundera, accessed on April 15,
2006)
Those studies have discussed both novels as separate entities. This study, on the other
there is a certain tendency, recurring motif in the depiction of characters through the body,
arts, and male-female relationship. In addition, this study also seeks to contextualize the
repetition with Kundera’s political background as an author and a person.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. On the Body
The theory on the body elaborated in this thesis is limited to the idea on the
repression of the body. Anthony Synnot states that the repression of the body has been rooted
in the philosophical discourse for long time, since the era of Greek philosophers. The
mind-body dualism, for example, has diminished the role of the mind-body by stating that mind is
supreme since it generates pure knowledge (Synnot, 2003: 24-55). Similarly, Christianity
formerly assumes that the body is a prison of the soul. Its materiality is considered disgusting
and impure. This argument is also restated by Daniel Cavallaro in his book The Body for
Beginner (Cavallaro. 1998,24-26). Cavallaro also argues that, in the modern time, the
repression of the body still exists in the form of morality, religion and scientific law, which
‘endeavored to make the body weak and impotent by teaching us to be humble, obedient and
servile” (Cavallaro, 1998: 65). Furthermore, he states that civilization represses the body in a
way that it reinforces instincts as shameful.
According to Synnot, the history of the body has shown the negation of this
repression that raised the idea of the existential body. The basic idea of the existential body is
negating the mind as the constituent of self-identity. Meanwhile, the body plays a big part in
admittance of the body as the constituent of self through his discussion of Nietzsche’s
philosophical argument on the body. The thought and abstract concepts are also part of
biological process. Thus the body cannot be neglected or denied (Cavallaro, 2001:46).
Another theory on the body applied in this thesis is the theory of looking as a form of
power. Cavallaro states that the act of gazing is not simply that of looking. He says “the gaze
probes and masters. It penetrates the body and bounds it as a passive object. The gaze
objectifies the body” (Cavallaro, 2001:115). In other words, the act of looking presumes the
imbalance of power between the looked and the looker. The gaze also deals with sexual
pleasure. Through the act of looking, the looker gained sexual pleasure from the looked at.
What I will present in this analysis is voyeurism, which Cavallaro defines as the excitement
gained from looking at body’s nudity or engaged in a sexual intercourse.
2. On Art
The theory of art elaborated in this thesis deals with the function of art as an escape
and a medium of revolt. Art as an escape is discussed by Arthur Koestler. He argues that one
quality of arts is to provide an outlet for temporary escape from routine. The aesthetic
experience enables one to distract him/her from his/her own self-interest and direct to the
other realities happened on stage, for example. This distraction creates a distance which gives
a short consolation. In addition, aesthetic experience also produces catharsis which,
according to Koestler, has two elements: first, the distraction from self-interest occupation
and second, to create an outlet which may result on peacefulness. Moreover, Koestler gives
emphasize on the meaning of peacefulness, which does not mean settling the problem nor
ending up with happiness, but ‘the ‘earthing’ of an individual tragedy in the universal tragedy
Beside the theory of catharsis as a form of escape, Koestler also mentions
identification as a form of escape. Identification means the involvement of the audience’s
emotion in what the work of art communicates. The involvement makes the audience enter
into an illusion, which also makes the audience come out their self interest. In Koestler’s
words, “it enables the spectator to transcend the narrow confines of his personal identity, and
to participate in another form of existence.” (Koestler, 1970: 308-309).
Other function of art which I elaborate in this thesis is arts as a form of revolt. Camus
argues that art in its basic sense is a revolt. Art goes beyond what human beings are able to
do in the real world. It becomes the correction to what happens in reality. Imagination in arts,
thus, is a correction to what human being experiences in everyday life Arts explore other
possibilities or other existences that impossible to happen in the real world. However, arts do
not flee from reality. It refuses reality but it does not completely detach from it.
Camus particularly discusses the revolt in novels. He states that novel was born in the
spirit of criticism. Even the reality in the novel is not far from real everyday life, its sadness
also belong to our sadness, but in the novel fate becomes absolute and certain, that the
characters go to end the journey to find his/her death. It is, Camus argued, contradictory with
our fate which is still uncertain. Thus, novel competes with God. In this sense, the revolt of
the novel lies (Camus, 1998:22).
This study will particularly deal with art as means to escape from daily routine yet it
provides catharsis: a relief after merging one’s suffering with that performed in arts. In
addition, this study will employ art as medium of revolt toward reality. Arts question reality.
I will elaborate Anthony Giddens’s idea of relationship in this thesis. Through The
Transformation of Intimacy, Giddens traces the form of relationship in the modern era. I will
only elaborate some small parts of his ideas, since it is relevant with the discussion of
male-female relationship. One of Giddens’s arguments is the presence of romantic love. In
romantic love, Giddens argues, sublime love has more place rather than sexual
accomplishment. It, however, does not mean that romantic love denies sexuality. Sexuality
does exist in such kind of love, yet its portion does not go beyond the sublime love.
Romantic love also deals with instant attraction, ‘love at the first sight’ and the
involvement of the feeling of beauty and joy of love. In consequence, romantic love is
monogamous. The person involved in the romantic love tends to project their own future on
the relationship. There is a sense of fixing, that the relationship will lead the person into a
better future (Giddens, 1992:38-47).
The opposite of this romantic love is confluent love, which means conditioned love.
In this kind of love, there is a tendency to banish the idea of ‘forever and ever love’ and ‘one
and only’ which is often seen in romantic love (Giddens, 1992: 62). Love, in confluent love,
grows to the degree where each person in the relationship is ready and able to concern. In
consequence, this relationship is not sexually monogamous. Sexual exclusiveness is agreed to
the certain degree where each partner feels that he/she wants it. In this relationship, sexual
accomplishment becomes important part. Thus, sexual exploration and training are two
things possible to do in this relationship (Giddens, 1992: 61-64).
The review on Czechoslovakia’s historical background in the period of 1948 until
post 1968 is presented here in order to give the general circumstances under which Kundera
lived as a writer and an individual. This review is very useful to understand what Kundera
states through Life is ElsewhereandThe Unbearable Lightness of Being, since the former is
set in 1948 Czechoslovakia and the latter in post 1968.
The 1948 Czechoslovakia was a country, which, like other countries in Europe, had
just recovered from the subversion of the German Nazi during the World War II. It was also
the time when Communism emerged in the country. There was a Communist Party before,
but their popularity increased only after the coming of the Russian troops to free
Czechoslovakia from the German Nazi. The Communist party had intentionally attracted
many people by campaigning patriotic issues and by appealing to the national sentiments. For
a country which had just experienced suppression from other countries, such issues caught
people’s attention. In the following years, the Communist gained its supremacy by pushing
aside the legal republican government in 1948, suppressing many religious organizations, and
dominating the government by putting their people as the ministers in the cabinet. Later,
when the amount of the party’s members became much and much bigger, the president of the
party became the president of the country, too. Czechoslovakia also proclaimed itself to be
the member of the Soviet Union, and thus, adopted the Soviet’s style of governing. The
‘style’ included the absolute role of the party, the state-centered agricultural and education
system, Marxim-Leninism based cultural life and limited freedom to speak.
In the 1960s, there was a big economic crisis, which, led to many protests. The young
Communist responded to this situation. They were compelled to do a reform by proposing a
managerial skill. They also issued a political reform which gave more opportunities to the
freedom to speak. In consequence, the central role of the Communist party must be limited
and the more authority was given to the region. They named this reform ‘Socialism with
Human Face’. This idea made the conservative communist upset. Internal conflict was
unavoidable but the reformists finally won. The peak of this movement was in the spring of
1968 and was later popular with the name of Prague Spring. The basic idea of the reform was
the lifting of censorship and the extended chance for freedom to speak. Unfortunately, in
Russia’s view this reform was dangerous to the idea of communism itself. A little openness
might stir some revolt. For Russia which became the main actor of the Cold War at that time,
the need to maintain the continuity of a Communist country was a must. Thus, Russia
invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, eight months after the Prague Spring was enacted.
The coming of Russia meant returning to the old life again. The reformists were
prosecuted and the government was soon filled by the conservatives. Soon, the old model of
life returned: the prosecution of those who ‘betrayed’ Communism, the dedication of arts for
the ideology, the strict control of any aspects of the citizen’s life. In the memoir of Vaclav
Havel, a writer who later became the president of democratic Czechoslovakia, the situation
post Prague Spring was described as ‘more gloomier’, as people started to realize that
‘everything once declared impossible [during Prague Spring] was now possible again and
that an often unmasked and ridiculed absurdity could rule once more…An era of apathy and
widespread demoralization began, an era of gray, everyday totalitarian consumerism.’
(Havel, 1991:120). The crumbling down of Soviet Union became the mark of the change in
Czechoslovakia. Soon after the Russian troops retreated from the country, they held their
5. On Kundera’s Idea about Novels.
Kundera’s ideas on novels make up the ‘philosophy’ of literature which forms the
basic meaning of his works. He outlines his ‘theory’ in The Art of the Novel, published in
French in 1984 and in English in 1986. The book contains seven parts, each of them talks
about different aspect in Kundera’s works: the composition, the philosophy, the position of
his novels in the context of European novels. He even writes ‘vocabulary’, some key words
to understand his works in order to avoid misunderstanding. Other book which can be
considered as the ‘theory’ of Milan Kundera’s works is Testament Betrayed, An Essay in
Nine Parts published in French in 1993 and in English in 1995. Although this book is the
compilation of Kundera’s essays about his interpretation on other European novelists such as
Franz Kafka, Salman Rushdie and Andre Breton, it restates Kundera’s ideas on his novels.
This book, like The Art of the Novel, also seems to ‘correct’ the misinterpretation of
Kundera’s works.
Kundera speaks of the respect to the individual values. What I mean by ‘individual
value’ here is not only the praise to the individual freedom, but the full involvement of
human being in living the world. By living fully in the world, human beings will become the
agent and also participants in creating history, which, at the same time, limit the possibility of
alienation from the surrounding. This idea is probably influenced by his experience of living
under the Communist regime, along with its strict control over individuals.
A novel, according to Kundera, should have ‘the wisdom of uncertainty’ (Kundera,
1986:7). A novel’s duty is presenting possibilities in which the readers are free to judge.
novelist’s capacity to propose the judgment. The novel is a place where every character
deserves to be understood.
About the relation between novels and history, Kundera states that novels should
propose different kind of history. The usual History, he argues, reduces the value of human
being, into political actions. Novels should thus make its historiography by presenting what
had been neglected by the official history: the personal aspect of history. History in the novel
is also the situation in the characters life. It does not only happen in the suprapersonal aspect
of life, but it also happens in the personal area.
C. Theoretical Framework
The theory on the body by Cavallaro and Synnot is put to use in analyzing the female
and male characters’s perception about their body. By applying their theory, I expect to find
the description on how the body is treated, either in positive or negative way. The theory of
the power of the gaze is going to be applied in the analysis of the male character’s opinion
about the female body, since those characters are much more involved with the female body
rather than the female one. The theory of art as revolt by Albert Camus and art as the
instrument of catharsis by Koestler are going to be applied to see how the characters treat art
in their life. While the theory of relationship by Giddens is used to explain how the characters
see their relationship with their opposite sex. This theory will also be used to explain the
character’s concept of love, sexuality and relationship in general such as marriage.
The reviews on Czechoslovakia history and Kundera’s ideas on novels are applied to
contextualize the already revealed characteristics of the characters in the first and second
problem formulations. The Art of Noveland Testament Betrayedare the two books I use to
information on Kundera’s political experience. Those three sources - Kundera’s life
experience, Czechoslovakia historical background, and Kundera’s philosophy of his novels
-are used as the frame to see the depictions of the characters. The reviews by Jan Culik will
complement the analysis, since it analyzes in brief, Kundera’s career as a writer, along with
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Objects of the Study
The objects of this study are The Unbearable Lightness of Beingand Life is Elsewhere. Both are novels written by Milan Kundera. The former was completed in 1984, while the latter in 1974. The Unbearable Lightness of Being was written originally in Czech under the title Nesnesitelna lehkost bytiand translated in English
by Michael Henry Heim. The English edition, which I use in this study, was published by Harper & Row Publisher in 1987. The novel consists of seven parts and 314 pages.Life is Elsewherewas also written in Czech, originally titledZivot je jinde
and translated in English by Peter Kussi. The English version was firstly published in 1974, but the copy that I use in this study was published by Penguin Books in 1986. Like The Unbearable Lightness of Being, this novel is also divided into seven parts
and 307 pages.
The Unbearable Lightness of Beingis Kundera’s most widely known novel in the Western public. The book was translated into many languages, such as Italian, French and English. Its success story is indicated by the fact that it is sold more than
Metafora Tiada Tertahankan. This Indonesian edition is published by Kunci Ilmu,
Yogyakarta in 2002.
The reaction toLife is Elsewhere is probably not as widely acclaimed asThe Unbearable Lightness of Being.Yet, the novel is widely known in France, where the
novel was firstly published after the ban of Kundera as a writer in his homeland.
B. Approach of the Study
This study applies intertextuality as its approach. The theory of intertextuality
assumes that a text “cannot exist as a hermetic or self-sufficient whole, and so does not function as closed-off system”(Still & Worton, 1990: 1). A text cannot be looked at by only focuses on its internal structure, since it, in its essence, has relation with
other text. In other words, text cannot stand as its own self, since it is a rewritten of other text. As quoted by Still and Worton, Julia Kristeva - who firstly raised the idea of intertextuality - argues that “ [the] conception of the “literary word” as an
intersection of textual surfaces rather than a point ( a fixed meaning), as a dialogue among several writings: that of the writer, the addressee (or the character) and the contemporary or earlier cultural context”(Still & Worton, 1990:16).
The idea of the openness of text is also echoed by Barthes who argues that a
writings, to counter the ones with the others, in such a way as never to rest on any one
of them” (Barthes, 1977:146).
There are two aspects of intertextuality as proposed by Still and Worton. First, “ a writer is a reader of text ( in the broadest sense) before s/he is a creator of text.”
(Still & Worton, 1990:1) Therefore, a text implies references from other text. Texts here are not merely written sources (other author’s works) but also “the quotation…of snatches of conversation typical of certain social milieu at a certain historical moment”(Still & Worton, 1990: 1). Thus, it is implied that socio-political context is
the major aspect which influences a text. The second reason emphasizes on the role of reader in shaping text. A text is shaped by the process of reading. Readers interpret the text according to their own experience with other text. Thus, the process of
reading itself is also the process of intertextuality (Still & Worton, 1990:2).
Intertextuality considers external circumstances as important aspects. What I want to emphasize in this study is the process of analysis, that doing the reading of
C. Method of the Study
This study employs library research. The primary sources are the two novels by Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Life is Elsewhere. The secondary sources includeThe Art of Novel and Testament Betrayed, also written by
Kundera concerning his idea on his own novels and other novels in general. Some articles on Kundera written by some critics, for example, Michiko Kakutani and Jan Culik are also useful. The analysis was done through certain steps. First was finding the depiction of the male characters through their perception on the body, art, and
male-female relationship by looking closely to both novels. The mode of comparison and contrast were used as the base of finding this depiction to see whether there was the same trend or difference of the portrayal of those characters in both novels. The
same method was also applied to find the depiction of the female characters. Next, I examined works by Kundera, which stated his opinion or ‘theorization’ on his novels and other novels, and some socio-political happenings in Kundera’s life. With all
those data in mind, I proceeded to the next step, that was finding the relationship between the depiction of the characters through the body, art and male-female relationship, Kundera’s opinion on his novels and some socio-political context. The interplay of these three (or two) elements would show that in order to understand
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter is divided into three subchapters according to the problem formulations. The first section will discuss the portrayals of the female characters according to the topic of the body, art and male-female relationship. Each topic will be discussed separately. Thus, the first section will be divided into three subsections.
The second section discusses the portrayal of the male characters according to the same topic of the female one. These sections will also be divided into three subsections. The third sections will contextually read the result of the first and second
sections against the author’s backgrounds.
A. The Portrayal of Female Characters through the Body, Art and Male-Female Relationship
1. The Portrayal of Female Characters through the Body
The portrayal of female characters through their perception about the body goes under two opposite ideas: the denial of the body and the celebration of the
body. There are three female characters being analyzed in this section: Tereza, Sabina and Maman. Tereza and Maman belong to the first category. They are connected to each other by some similarities, though at some points, the differences are quite
She accepts her bodily drives and celebrates her body. The discussion that follows
will be divided into two sections based on the two categories.
a. Maman and Tereza: the Denial of the Body.
Maman and Tereza are the personification of the idea that the soul is the pure source of life. According to Synnot, this idea is based on the thought that reality is based on what the soul wants to see. The body, on the other hand, is denied, because it is in the lower level than the soul. Truth is achieved in the world of mind and the
soul is the source of reality. The body, with its materiality, is considered as the trap and the weakness (Synnot. 1993:26). Maman and Tereza believe that their souls are the true personifications of who they really are. They do not believe the body as the
representation of their identity.
There are some characteristics which shows Maman’s denial of the body. First
and foremost is her dissatisfaction of her own body. Maman considers her body ugly. The portrayal of her gestures and body language is that of timid and out of vitality.
She tends to hold her body back rather than to explore its fullest expression:
Besides being dissatisfied by her own body, Maman is also disgusted by physical
process that normally happens to the body, such as eating or defecating:
[…]ever since her childhood, Maman had felt an intense aversion toward all physicality, including her own; she abhorred herself whenever she sat down on the toilet (she tried to make sure that nobody saw her going to the bathroom) and at one time she had been ashamed to eat in public because the process of chewing and swallowing had seemed disgusting to her.”(Kundera, 1986 : 11)
The logical consequence of the dissatisfaction of the body and the feeling of disgust of any physicality is the refusal to expose the body. Even in making love, Maman
feels ashamed to expose her own body.
Shame never slept, it made lovemaking more exciting but it also watched over the body to prevent its plunging into full surrender.(Kundera, 1986:10)
Morality plays important part in Maman’s denial of the body. It serves as a domain in which Maman can find security when she cannot deal with the imposition of the
body. Morality has been believed as one of powers which represses the bodily drives. Norms and laws sometimes forbid the body to explore itself and to express itself. It has made the body weak and impotent by its imposing to be humble and obedient.
The way morality works with the denial of the body in Maman’s experience is clearly shown by Maman’s sexual affair with her son’s art teacher. Maman yearns for sexual satisfaction which she never gets from her husband:
The affair with the artist gives her body satisfaction, but she denies it and put the duty
as a mother and a wife as the justification to break her relationship with the artist:
Suddenly she was aware that she really had no idea whether she wanted him or not. It occurred to her that she was still behaving like a silly, inexperienced little girl…This idea calmed her, for it meant that her breach of marital fidelity was caused not by lust but by innocence…She wrote that she loved him and that she would never forget the magic moments they had lived together, but that the time had come to tell him the truth: in reality she was just an ordinary, old fashioned woman, afraid that some day she would not be able to look her innocent son in the eye.(LE,p52,54)
Thus, morality here means that she has to be faithful to her own holy duty as a mother
and wife. She considers the affair is improper, because it stains her role as a mother, and, ironically, as a wife of the man who never loves her.
Tereza’s denial of the body is also characterized by some similar traits as Maman’s. Yet, there are some traits which are completely different from the way Maman denies her body. Different from Maman, Tereza’s distrust of the value of the
body is triggered by the failure of the body to represent identity. The body, in Tereza’s experience, is a sign of immodesty. The example of immodest actions is
shown by Tereza’s mother who likes to expose her body:
different from Maman’s, whose disapproval of immodesty is motivated by the disgust
of physicality. Tereza’s despise of the body, however, is caused by the idea that the physicality is not able to provide uniqueness:
…Your body is just like other bodies; you have no right to shame, you have no reason to hide something that exists in millions of identical copies. In her mother’s world all bodies were the same…Since childhood, Tereza had seen nudity as a sign of concentration camp uniformity, a sign of humiliation.”(Kundera, 1987:57)
The failure of the body to be the representation of uniqueness can also be seen in
Tereza’s dream after finding out, that her husband, Tomas, sees other women:
…She marched around the pool, naked with a large group of naked women, Tomas stood over them in a basket, hanging from the pool’s arched roof, shouting at them…There was another horror at the very beginning of the dream: all women had to sing! Not only were their bodies identical, identically worthless, not only were resounding soulless mechanisms, the women rejoiced over it!...The women were pleased at having thrown off the ballast of the soul – to become one like the next. Tereza sang with them but did not rejoice.”(Kundera, 1987: 57)
The dream clearly shows how Tereza is very upset to be similar with other women in Tomas’s life. The fact that the dream shows that she has to be naked with other
women, strengthen the degree of her similarity with other women. Through that dream, Tereza sees that even the exclusive relationship of husband and wife (Tomas-Tereza relationship) cannot guarantee the uniqueness of the body.
I have discussed the denial of the body in Tereza’s and Maman’s experience.
for normal physical activities. It is also triggered by Maman’s disappointment of her
own body. Morality is also counted because it gives a justification for Maman to deny her own body needs. Tereza’s denial of the body is very different, however. It is motivated by her disbelief that the body cannot serve as the representation of her
unique identity which she always looks for.
Both Maman inLife is Elsewhereand Tereza in The Unbearable Lightness of
Beingshow the characteristic of the denial of the body. Yet, there are some different aspects underlying the denial. Morality, dissatisfaction of the body and the disgust of physicality highlight Maman’s denial of the body. On the other hand, Tereza denies
the body because it has failed to show one’s uniqueness.
b. Sabina: The celebration of The Body
Sabina’s perspective on the body represents the idea that the body is the true
expression of oneself. This idea roots on the argument that the body is no lower than the soul, because what soul perceives is also a corporeal interest. The body is also a source of knowledge, and therefore, it must not be neglected and denied.
Furthermore, this idea is also against all repression toward the body, which exists in the forms of morality, religion and law. (Cavallaro, 2002:65)
example below shows how Sabina is excited by the image of her sitting on the toilet
and being watched by her lover. This image is the negation of the mainstream idea, that urinating, as a normal bodily activity, is often considered immodest and hidden
with shame:
The fact that until recently the word ‘shit’ appeared in the print as s--- has nothing to do with moral considerations. You can’t claim that shit is immoral after all! The objection of shit is metaphysical one. The daily defecation session is daily proof of the unacceptability of creation…Sabina standing half naked…and the fully dressed Tomas at her side…While she was looking at herself in the mirror, excited by her self-denigration, she had a fantasy of Tomas seating her on the toilet…and watching her void her bowels.”(Kundera, 1987: 247)
By accepting its drives, the body comes to its fullest expression. Sabina’s body language and gesture shows this expression. Not only it expresses vitality and release, it also expresses freedom and much more, exploration on the body. One clear
example is how Sabina exposes her body to Franz, her boyfriend :
The exposure of the body is not for the purpose of eroticism only, as indicated by the
fact that Franz is Sabina’s boyfriend and Sabina opens her clothes in front of Franz. It is also an expression of openness and questioning the body. The bowler hat she wears becomes the symbol of masculinity. Thus, it questions the feminine quality of
Sabina’s female body.
Other example to describe Sabina’s acceptance of her body is her preference
to light rather than darkness. Light is identical with the willingness to see and to be seen, while darkness is the refusal to see. This idea is reflected in the scene where she prefers to turn the lights on while she is making love, while her boyfriend, Franz,
prefers the lights off:
At the moment he penetrated Sabina, however, he closed his eyes. The pleasure suffusing his body called for darkness. That darkness was pure, thoughtless, visionless; that darkness was without end…A man with closed eyes is a wreck of a man. Then Sabina found the sight of Franz distasteful, and to avoid looking at him, she too, closed her eyes. But for her, darkness did not mean infinity; for her, it meant a disagreement with what she saw, the negation of what was seen, the refusal to see. (Kundera, 1987: 95)
To conclude, the female characters’ perspective on the body consist of two
different ideas: the denial of the body, which is represented by Maman in Life is Elsewhereand Tereza in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and the celebration of the body, represented by Sabina in The Unbearable Lightness of Being. There are some differences between Maman’s and Tereza’s characteristics of the denial of the
has failed to show one’s uniqueness. The distrust to the body is also closely related to
their dependency to others to restore their belief to their body. Sabina, on the other hand, accept all bodily drives as something inseparable from human being. Sabina’s gestures and body language shows openness and willingness to questions and, thus,
explore her own body.
It is tempting to compare Sabina’s and Tereza’s perspective on the body
which seems contradictory to each other. Yet, both seeks the identity, the unique quality exists in self. Tereza does it by denying her body, while Sabina, on the other
hand, uses her body as the source of the unique quality.
2. The Portrayal of Female Characters through their Perception about Arts.
The discussion of arts here includes skill and aesthetic experiences which cover some areas such as poetry, photography and paintings. The female characters
being discussed, Tereza, Sabina and Maman, act as arts producer (artist) and arts consumers (audiences) who enjoy certain works of arts and use them for certain
purpose.
The female characters’ perspectives on art comprise of two categories. First, art is regarded as a way to express their rebellion against the dominant authorities that
art is considered as a way to temporary escape from their devastating reality. Art
provides a break from daily routine and an outlet for their dissatisfaction of life.
I will elaborate Albert Camus’ argument on how arts serves as a revolt to foreground the discussion of art and the female characters’ rebellion and Arthur Koestler’s argument on how arts serves as catharsis to the audience to foreground the
discussion of art as a temporary escape.
a. Rebellion
The expression of rebellion through arts is the common trait underlying the
portrayal of female characters through arts. The idea of rebellion in this discussion is foregrounded by Camus’s argument on arts and revolt. As Camus writes in Art and Revolt, art should question reality. Camus refers art to literature in particular, but it will remain true if it is also applied in arts in general. Imagination in arts does
correction on what people in the real world do not do. Art, from the basic sense is itself a revolt (Camus, 1988: 15).
Both Sabina and Tereza inThe Unbearable Lightness of Beingand Maman inLife is Elsewhere are portrayed as being individuals who make arts as the medium to express their disagreement to the authorities. Authority in its basic sense means
clear form, spread and impose its power over the society. For example, the idea of
beauty in contemporary Indonesia is marked by slender, tall, fair-skinned body. There is no single authority which states such a standard of beauty, but that idea is supreme in the society. This is what characterizes the power without ‘authority’: there is no
legal institution authorized that, but it stays in the society as common idea.
The act of rebellion through artistic activity bears different feature in each
character. In Tereza and Maman, the rebellion is done through their claim of identity and uniqueness against the common taste and opinion either in family or society. While in Sabina’s case, the rebellion is done by claiming the freedom of exploration
against the ideology of the country which also determines artistic expression.
To begin with Tereza in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, the act of artistic appreciation becomes the symbolic effort to state identity. Art serves as a symbol of uniqueness and sense of being different from the rest of the group in the society. It can be seen from Tereza’s experience when attending a classical music concert in her
small town, where most people will unlikely appreciate this kind of music:
The effort to be different from others through appreciating art can also be seen
through how Tereza appreciates books:
…[Books] They not only offered the possibility of an imaginary escape from a life she found unsatisfying; they also had a meaning for her as a physical objects: she loved to walk down the street with a book under her arm. It had the same significance for her as an elegant dandy cane for the dandy century ago. It differentiated her from others…(Kundera, 1987: 47-48)
Beside an art consumer, Tereza is also an art producer. In Tereza’s case, art producing also becomes a means to reach ‘something higher’ (Kundera, 1987: 55)
that is, her achievement which goes beyond her present taste. The eagerness for achievement is actually part of her effort to state identity, which also means the effort to be different from others. It can be seen through her eagerness in learning photography:
A young woman forced to keep drunks supplied with beer and siblings with clear underwear-instead of being allowed to pursue ‘something higher’ – stores up great reserves of vitality…Tereza had a job in a darkroom, but it was not enough for her. She wanted to take pictures, not develop them...Sabina lent her three or four monographs of famous photographers, then invited her to a café and explained over…what made each picture interesting. Tereza listened with silent concentration…and she made Tomas take her to every exhibit that opened in Prague...Before long, she was placed her own pictures in the illustrated weekly…and finally she left the darkroom for the staff of professional photographers…( Kundera, 1987: 55-56)
Art as a means to show differences from others can also be seen in Maman’s
also serves as a symbol of uniqueness which differentiates Maman from others. It is
worthy noted, however, that in Maman’s case, the rebellion is described in much smaller scale, since the group she differentiates herself from is her own family. The desire to show her different qualities can be seen through her fondness of poetry and
her decision to enroll in the faculty of philosophy upon disapproval of her parents:
As she was just about to complete her final examinations, the experience was perfectly timed for her to announce that she came to see life’s goal in intellectual labor and that she had decided to enroll in the faculty of philosophy (her practical minded father notwithstanding) Her father was the owner of two prosperous Prague pharmacies…a sober, practical man and a sworn foe of poetry…(Kundera, 1986: 8,15)
Next, Maman’s rebellion is shown by her eagerness to teach her son poetry in order to make sure, that her being different from the rest of the family, including her
husband, is preserved through her son’s talent and interest in poetry:
…Then she told him that literature had always been her greatest love. She had even gone to the university mainly to study literature and it was only marriage (she did not say pregnancy) that prevented her from devoting herself to this deepest inclination. If she now saw Jaromil as a poet (yes, she was the first to pin this great title on him), it is a wonderful surprise, and yet, it is also something she had long expected.(Kundera, 1986: 62)
express her opposition to the dominant ideology in the country. Turning to Camus’s
argument, arts is basically a revolt since one quality of arts, i.e imagination goes beyond what reality cannot do. Art becomes a revolt when it questions reality. It is through Sabina’s rebellion expressed through her paintings, that Camus’s notion is
restated.
The ideology described in the novel is Communism and the aesthetic ideology
thereof is kitsch. There are some aspects of kitsch described in the novel. First, it considers all bad things happened in human life as being indecent. Second, it hampers
all efforts to question reality and even to refuse kitsch itself:
…the world was created properly, that human existence is good, and that we are therefore entitled to multiply. Let us call this basic faith a categorical agreement with being…it follows, then, that the aesthetic ideal of the categorical agreement with being is a world in which shit is denied and everyone acts as though it did not exist. This aesthetic ideal is called kitsch…Kitsch is the aesthetic ideal of all politicians and all political parties and movements…whenever a single political movement corners power, we find ourselves in the realm of totalitarian kitsch…means that everything that infringes on kitsch must be banished for life: every display of individualism ...every doubt; all irony; and the mother who abandons her family or the man who prefers men to women, thereby calling into the question the holy decree…(Kundera, 1987: 252)
As a producer of art, Sabina reveals what is impossible in the kitsch-influenced
crack makes the building looks ugly, which then gives her an idea that it expresses
the situation behind her painting: that she is forced to paint a beautiful building in realist style. The crack shows that behind the beautiful object, there lies something terribly ugly. Thus, the painting elaborates two worlds (the beauty and the ugly truth
behind it) as a form of her claim of the freedom of exploration which is not allowed by the regime.
“Here is a painting I happened to drip red paint on. At first I was terribly upset, but then I started enjoying it. The trickle looked like a crack; it turned the building site into a battered old backdrop. I began playing with the crack, filling it out; wondering what might be visible behind it. And that’s how I began my first cycle of paintings. I call it ‘behind the scenes.’ Of course, I couldn’t show them to anybody. I’d been kicked out of the Academy. On the surface, there was always an impeccably realistic world, but underneath, behind the backdrop’s cracked canvas, lurked something different, something mysterious…on the surface, an intelligible lie; underneath an intelligible truth.” ( Kundera, 1987: 63)
The freedom of exploration is also shown through the concept of beauty. Certain object is beautiful if it comes as a negation of the standard of beauty - a quality which has been recognized as ‘beautiful’. Thus, beauty comes from the questioning of
already settled concept of beauty itself. This can be seen from Sabina’s opinion on the beauty of New York:
The portrayal of female characters through art as being rebellious is shared by
all female characters in both novels. Sabina, Tereza and Maman are depicted to use art as a means to state their disapproval against authorities which control them. Tereza breaks the ‘rule’ of the sameness of aesthetical taste in her society. As both a
producer and consumer of arts, she claims her identity and uniqueness through arts. This feature is also shared by Maman, in her capacity as a consumer of art. The society in which Maman lives (her family and her circles) despises arts. Maman consumes arts in order to show how different she is. Sabina, as a producer of art,
claim for the freedom of exploration which is expressed through her paintings. In her case, the authority she opposes has definite form: the communist ideology which
imposes social-realism in every artistic activity in the country.
The other trait of the portrayal of female characters through art is escape,
which is only shared by Tereza and Maman. Sabina, however, does not show any notion of this characteristic. The discussion below will be focused on escape as the trait of the portrayal of Maman and Tereza through art.
b. Escape.
According to Koestler, the act of escaping is basically an effort to “transport…from the trivial present to plane remote from self interest and makes him
characters to distract their emotion from the reality and to deposit it to the artistic
form they are capable of enjoying. The very example of the distraction is seen in Tereza who reads books during her works:
Whenever she did the clothes, she kept a book next to the tub. As she turned the pages, the wash dripped all over them…For she had but a single weapon against the world of crudity surrounding her: the books she took out from the municipal library, and above all, the novels. She had read any number of them, from Fielding to Thomas Mann. They not only offered the possibility of an imaginary escape from a life she found so unsatisfying…(Kundera, 1987: 47)
Beside emotional distraction, other form of escape is identification. Identification
with any single emotional flow in the works of art means ‘leaving one’s own identity to involved with those of others on the stage’ (Koestler, 1975: 308). Here, identification is also a form of escape. Through the process of identification with the
emotion performed in works of art, one feels that his emotion is also part of the surrounding’s emotion, as Graham argues that one values of art is providing the audiences the way to feel the collective emotion (Graham, 1997:36). Thus,
identification is also an effort to find an ally, solidarity that one is not alone in the world to feel the miserable life. The evidence of this identification can be seen in Maman inLife is Elsewherewho is interested in books after she realizes that she will
not be popular among young man of her age:
modesty; out of sheer protest she had learned to love the sentimental gravity of music and books. (Kundera, 1986: 8)
The process of emotional distraction and identification are accompanied by
the attempt to cope with the reality. Art provides an outlet where ones can make a peaceful compromise with the reality. As Koestler argues, peacefulness does not mean a happy ending. ‘[It] may mean the ‘earthing’ of an individual tragedy in the universal tragedy of human condition…It dissolves the bitterness of personal sorrow
in the vastness of oceanic feeling’(Koestler, 1975 : 307). The female characters also endure the same idea, that by turning to art, they look at the ideal beautiful world, where they set hope to continue their life. The evidence of this idea is shown by
Maman when she puts a statue in her bedroom, after her marriage with a man who marries her only because she is already pregnant:
In the bedroom was a small table… on which stood a figurine of a nude male. Let us add that the face was extremely beautiful, the hair wavy, and the whiteness of the alabaster from which it was made gave the statuette a gentle, girlish or perhaps virginally divine air…The alabaster statuette had thus become a true antique divinity : an otherworldly being who now and then intervenes in human affairs…As she gazed into his comely face she conceived the wish that the child growing in her abdomen would resemble this graceful rival of her husband’s. She hoped for resemblance so strong that she could look at her and imagine this Greek youth to be his real father…( Kundera, 1986: 6-7)
Here we see the escape to the ideal world represented by the statue of Apollo, which is very different from her real life: her unhappy marriage and her broken heart of
her child will not inherit her sorrow. The statue also represents her symbolic break
from her terrible present situation (with a husband around) and leads her to the future (to own her child alone).
In conclusion, rebellion becomes the common trait shared by the three female characters discussed: Tereza and Sabina in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and Maman inLife is Elsewhere. Through their artistic activity (producing and consuming
art) they express their rebellion to their surroundings. Maman and Tereza rebel against dominant ideas about art in the society. Sabina opposes the artistic ideology imposed on by the communist regime in the country. Other trait, which is temporary
escape, is only shared by Maman and Tereza as consumers of art. The escape has two meanings: emotional distraction from bitter reality and a sense of companionship through identification to works of arts. Yet, it is worthy noted that the seemingly act
of escape also bears hope to continue life.
3. The portrayal of Female Characters through Their Relationship with their Opposite Sex.
Before proceeding to further discussion, it is important to note that the
relationship with opposite sex I would like to discuss here is limited by male-female relationship which is tied by love or sexual relationship. One exception goes to Maman, whose relationship with her opposite sex is not only marked by
There are two opposite ideas discussed in this section. The first is the idea of
romantic male-female relationship. Maman and Tereza are listed in this category. The second is freedom-based relationship. Sabina is in this category. The discussion in
this section will be divided according to the two ideas.
a.Tereza and Maman: Romantic Love
Maman and Tereza are portrayed as romantic individuals. According to Giddens in his book The Transformation of Intimacy, the romantic love is
experienced by a person who sees beauty and coincidence in his/her relationship, sets long-term relationship, treats relationship as exclusive and monogamous and demands the same from his/her partners, puts faithfulness as the supreme thing in the
relationship and has attachment to his/her partner (Giddens, 1992:37). The discussion below is primarily focused on those characteristics.
I will begin with beauty and coincidence which are prevalent in both Maman and Tereza. According to Giddens, romanticizing the circumstances of love also means idealizing the beloved. It is also based on the feeling of beauty and joy of the
hearts. Such a feeling is seen in the way Maman and Tereza describe their encounters with their beloved. In Tereza’s description, it is interesting to note how the words ‘chance’ and ‘fate’ are used. Those words imply to the things that just happen without
refer to sexual or erotic attraction (Giddens, 1992:40). In Tereza’s description of her
