Dwight Garner today on the late Milan Kundera:
"Kundera’s novels, especially his later ones, could be abstract and
heavy-handed. His characters, at times, were little more than chess pieces.
Their author could be pretentious. His work is filled with observations such as:
'In the sunset of dissolution, everything is illuminated by the aura of nostalgia,
even the guillotine.' But his best fiction retains its moments of sweep and power."
Illustration for Florence King's 1989 review of The Eight , a novel
by Katherine Neville that features prominently the date April 4.
See also "Dissolution" in this journal.