89 Words followed by Prague, A Disappearing Poem

89 Words, published in 1985, is an expanded version of the dictionary of sorts that readers encountered in The Art of the Novel, and comprises a fascinating and rigorous interrogation of what exile, life in another language, and the betrayals of translations entail.

Prague, A Disappearing Poem, dating from 1980, meditates on questions of the culture of the 'small nation' that formed and lends specificity to Kundera's work, and - as in A Kidnapped West - questions of the Soviet and Western attitudes to Czech culture.

Together, these provocative, elegant and wise essays remind familiar readers of Kundera's presence - his inimitable voice - and for new readers, offer an introduction to his oeuvre: an access point into his fictional universe, characterised by devastating irony and subtlety of judgement.