The Unbearable Lightness of Being《A Masterpiece》

Third time I'm reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being. And this time around it's the English translation by Michael Henry Heim (great job by the way). To me this is a work of the boldest mastery originality and richness. Never have I read anything so full of insights into philosophy existence sex and politics all at the same time. First time I read it I was amazed at the structure and storyline. Second time the mastery of words. And now the sophisticated characters and their inner struggles.

Beware though this is not an easy read and I definitely wouldn't recommend it as a bedtime material. Personally the Chinese translation by Han Shaogong is my favourite but this English version isn't half bad either.

Allow me to quote a little bit:

Men who pursue a multitude of women fit neatly into two categories. Some seek their own subjective and unchanging dream of a woman in all women. Others are prompted by a desire to possess the endless variety of the objective female world.

The obsession of the former is lyrical: what they seek in women is themselves their ideal and since an ideal is by definition something that can never be found they are disappointed again and again. The disappointment that propels them from woman to woman gives their inconstancy a kind of romantic excuse so that many sentimental women are touched by their unbridled philandering.

The obsession of the latter is epic and women see nothing the least bit touching in it: the man projects no subjective ideal on women and since everything interests him nothing can disappoint him. This inability to be disappointed has something scandalous about it. The obsession of the epic womanizer strikes people as lacking in redemption (redemption by disappointment).