Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Paris, Jul 12.- The Czech writer Milan Kundera, author of the novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being, died this Tuesday in this capital at the age of 94, according to what the French press published today, where he lived a large part of his life.
Milan Kundera Library spokeswoman Anna Mrazova, located in the Czech city of Brno, her hometown, said her death came after a long illness, the AFP news agency reported.
World famous, his books have been translated into more than 80 languages. His first novel was The Joke, in 1967, followed by Amores Risibles, in 1969, both published in the former Czechoslovakia, his country of origin.
Considered his masterpiece, The Unbearable Lightness of Being was published in Paris in 1984, and was later adapted for film in 1988 by Philip Kaufman. Here he also wrote The Farewell Waltz and The Book of Laughter and Oblivion.
Kundera emigrated to France in 1975 with his wife Vera, a star presenter on Czech television, and obtained French citizenship in 1981; he since then he chose the language of this country as writing language.
In France, he refrained from giving statements to the media other than to talk about his work. He lived discreetly in the center of Paris with his wife. (Text and photo: PL)
