أول قراءة لكونديرا ..
لم تكن ممتعة ولا مقنعة ..
شعرت بالملل في معظم الأوقات ..
ربما لم تكن أفضل رواياته ..
أود حقاً التعرف على هذا الكونديرا
سأبحث عن الأفضل واقرأه إن شاء الله ..

All'età di circa 20 anni provai a leggere per la prima volta "L'insostenibile leggerezza dell'essere"di Kundera, in quanto in quel periodo se ne parlava tanto , ma ottenni scarsi risultati poichè lasciai ben presto la lettura...credo che allora non avevo gli strumenti per capire un autore del genere.
A distanza di quasi altri vent'anni ho provato a riaffrontarlo con questo romanzo "L'identità" e devo dire che è stata una piacevole sorpresa:ho trovato un autore veramente unico , sia per l'argomento trattato che per lo stile ed anche per la forma di questo romanzo che ha anche elementi tipici del saggio. Protagonista è una coppia: lei Chantal e lui Jean Marc.E' proprio nella coppia che la nostra identità viene messa alla prova e con essa quella dell'altra persona: quanto conosciamo dell'altro?quando non è insieme a noi è davvero la stessa persona che amiamo e crediamo di conoscere?
Entriamo quindi nell' intimità di una coppia e nell'introspezione dei loro pensieri in una maniera davvero originale dove realtà e sogno si confondono.

هویت، چه اسم جذابی و چه داستان جذابی. داستان دو شخصیت اصلی داره شانتال و ژان مارک که یک زوج هستند. یک روز شانتال به ژان مارک میگه مردها دیگه برای دیدن من برنمیگردند. و این شروع ماجرای داستانه. چقدر این جمله در عین سادگی عمیق و عجیبه.تمام طول کتاب چه از زبان دو شخصیت اصلی و چه گفتگوها واقعا جذابن. در تمام مراحل شما نمیتونید فقط به یک طرف حق بدید گویا هر دو نفر حق دارن ولی این رو فقط ما میدونیم که از همه چیز آگاهیم نه شخصیت ها که فقط دیدگاه خودشون رو میدونن و این نگاه چقدر فلسفی و روانشناسانه به خواننده هبه شده. شروع، ادامه و پایان همه خوب بودند. لذت بردم از خوندن این کتاب

I'm ill. I picked this up mostly because it is short and closer than the other books I am reading, which were on my desk across the room. Sigh.

This is a 'nothing' book by Kundera. I read it in a few hours or something, and now have basically already forgotten it. The philosophy was weak, for Kundera. The plot was so-so. On the whole, an easy read but nothing to be impressed by. It's one, if not the, shortest novel by him. Probably for the best.

Milan Kundera and I are both April fools, so I have always felt a sense of kinship with him. I do not know if April Fool's Day is "celebrated" in the Czech Republic, but I pretend that it is and that he, too, endured fake cakes and tricks as a child.

Kundera is best known for the beautifully titled "Unbearable Lightness of Being." This book is similar in that it explores human relationships but it's also very different.

Kundera has lived in France for many years and this book feels French... it feels like a French movie. Identity is a brief novel exploring a relationship.

As we read the book we're inside the head of Chantal and then we're inside the head of Jean-Marc, her lover. It's hard to figure out who they are and what they feel, but I think that's the point of the novel. It displays the ways in which emotions shift and relationships change.

My favorite scene from the book is half-way through. Chantal and Jean-Marc are at a restaurant for dinner and observe a silent couple at another table and they discuss what that means. "You can't measure the mutual affection of two human beings by the number of words they exchange," says Jean-Marc and then goes on to describe his aunt in Perigord, who "talks and talks without stop" and "replicates in words everything she sees and everything she does."

Being so intimately involved in the push/pull of their relationship is uncomfortable at times. In my last review I critiqued Michael Chabon for his lack of emotion. Well, Kundera is at the other end of that spectrum. Feelings and relationship are the core of the story.

Identity is a quick yet emotionally affective read. Jealousy, codependence, insecurities... all are witnessed here. But what is most clear after reading this book is how relationships shift and change sometimes in the span of just a few minutes. And then you're often right back where you started.

کتاب کم حجم ، روان اما در عین حال چالشی در ذهن خواننده ایجاد میکند .

بنظرم روایت های کوندرا خود زندگی است ، بدن هیچ کم و کاستی و بار اضافه ای.


۲۰ فروردین ۱۳۹۸

A wonderful take on identity in the context of relationships—how our perception of ourselves changes depending on "our perception of a lover," or how the idea (often unconscious) of being seen by another alters the way we see ourselves.

This premise is in line with Kundera's categorizing of people, which he proposed in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, according to "the kind of look we wish to live under."

This "look" is different for both Chantal and Jean-Marc, the couple in this book. Chantal relishes in the idea of being seen by other men (although only in fantasy as it turns out later), and Jean-Marc questions his self-proclaimed "marginal" identity along with the inconsistency he sees between Chantal, the love of his life, and Chantal, the advertising clerk at work.

All is good until a mysterious man starts sending love letters to Chantal, who keeps the correspondence alive by writing back and fantasizing (aka dreaming or "reverie").

This last part marks the genius of Kundera as a psychologist and a storyteller. As Chantal loses herself inside the imaginary gaze of her correspondent, the book travels back and forth between the real and the unreal, until it nestles warmly (with us and with the couple) into the arms of the real.

A beautiful book.

Four stars and a half.

----------------------------------------------------

n  n    Favourite linen  n

I really loved how Chantal insists on keeping her eyes on Jean-Marc in the end, marking the important link between one's identity and the acts of seeing and being seen.

"She shook her head: 'No, I just want to watch you.'
And then: 'I'm going to leave the lamp on all night. Every night.'"

عند الانتهاء من قراءة آخر صفحات الرواية؛ تذكرت أحمد زكي وهو فيلم أرض الخوف، كان له بعض الكلمات التي قالها أثناء الفيلم، وهي كالتالي:

"أنا لما ابتديت المهمة، كنت قادر أشوف كل حاجة بوضوح، كنت متأكد من اللي أنا بعمله...
بعد كده، ابتديت أحس إني بشوف الصورة من ورا لوح إزاز...
وبالتدريج ابتدت كدة طبقة تتكون زي التراب، والمشكلة إن التراب ابتدى يزيد، لدرجة إن أنا مبقتش شايف أي حاجة.. صورة ضبابية...
ذكريات اختلطت مع الأحلام مع الأوهام مع الحقايق...
الفترة الأخيرة ابتديت أحلم بكوابيس وأصحى خايف، مش عارف ليه؟
بقيت بحس إني محكوم عليا بالوحدة، متعلق في الهواء، لا قادر أمسك حاجة بإيديا ولا فيه أرض تحتيا!!!
وبقيت أسأل نفسي سؤال... أنا ليه بقيت كده؟!"

طول الرواية كنت حاسة إني عاملة زي شانطال بدور على نفسي فعلًا، النهاية قد تبدو غريبة للبعض، ولكنها النهاية المتوقعة لمن يبحث عن هويته، أو نهاية تمثلني لأني بالفعل عايشة في الأحلام والكوابيس، بخلط الواقع بأحلامي وكوابيسي، وصلت لمرحلة مش عارفة أفرق بينهم، أو دا اللي حساه في مرحلة البحث عن هويتي التي أفتقدها، ولا أعلم إلى أين سوف يصل بي الحال والبحث؟

كونديرا اعتبر الانتحار خيانة للصبر؛ حتى لا تجرنا أذيال اليأس في البحث عن الهوية إلى التخلص منها.

عجبني كونديرا وهو بيصف الصداقة بمعناها الحديث، لكن هل كان جان محقًا في قطع علاقته أو صداقته بصديقه (ف)؟
هل الحياد خيانة فعلًا؟

أنا بحب كونديرا بحبه علشان بشوفه بيتكلم عني، وبيتكلم معايا، وبشوفه صديقي المقرب.
كنت قرأت الرواية قبل كدا مرتين، ولكن كالعادة في كل مرة أرى كونديرا بوجه جديد.

كل الشكر للصديق العزيز محمود النوري فهو من اقترح هذه الرواية للقراءة.

After finishing Slowness by Kundera, I jumped straight into Identity.

I was pretty hooked by Identity. We follow a couple where the woman is older and more wealthy than the man. Each has their worries - she has to pretend to agree with her boss at her job, and she's worried about aging and is haunted by the loss of her 5yo child from a previous marriage. He's worried about not really having a career, being an imposter in her world, jealousy, and fear of losing her. Each has this vast world of anxieties, pain, doubts, desires that they hide from the other and cover up with a facade. They struggle with their identity under these pretenses, and when some things are revealed about the other, they struggle to reconcile the person they thought they knew with who they 'really' are. Super interesting!

I enjoyed it! The writing had that trademark Kundera mix of plot and philosophical contemplations. This book was short too and broken into tiny chapters, so very easy to speed through. Again, I just love how honestly and without judgment Kundera writes flawed characters.

واقعاا خوندن کتابای کوندرا واسه من لذت بخشه❤️

1. موضوع کتاب هرچند تکراری، ولی پرداختش عالیه
2. هر دو شخصیت کتاب عالیه، خیلی جاها با ژان مارک و خیلی جاها می تونید با شانتال همزاد پنداری کنید، طوریکه فکر می کنید داستان در مورد زندگیه خودتونه
3. ترجمه کتاب واقعا خوب و روانه ولی به هیچ وجه مقدمه مترجم رو نخونید، یا لااقل بذارید بعد از تموم شدن کتاب برگردید و بخونیدش، جناب مترجم زحمت کشیدن و کل قصه رو لو دادن، چیزی که شما تو اواسط کتاب تازه متوجه اش می شید رو همون اول تو مقدمه گفته !

میتوان از غم دوری در حضور یار محبوب رنج برد.آیندەای را در نظر آوریم کە دیگر یار محبوب وجود نداشتەباشد.