Agnes's Final Afternoon: An Essay on the Work of Milan Kundera – A Critical Reading of Immortality, Protagonist Agnès, and the Novel

by François Ricard, Aaron Asher (Translator)

Agnès's Final Afternoon imitates the protagonist of Milan Kundera's novel Immortality on the last afternoon of her life. Like all readers of fiction, Agnès steps out of the world of planned routes, responsibilities, and social self and gives herself up to the discovery of a new landscape, an experience that will transform her. François Ricard's essay enters into the writings of Milan Kundera in much the same way. The landscape he explores includes a chain of ten novels, composed between 1959 and 1999, and two books containing one of the most lucid reflections on the novel.

Genres: Nonfiction, Literary Criticism

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Anne Earney · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a difficult time getting through this one. Something about the writing style allowed my mind to wander quite a bit. I had to really focus on maintaining attention and honestly, while there are a lot of good observations in here, and some connections across novels that I wouldn't have picked up on my own, a lot of times it didn't seem worth the effort. If I was writing a thesis or something, I'd probably appreciate this more but I'm just reading for pleasure.

I would have abandoned it except that there will probably never be a time when I'll be in a better place to get something out of it, having just read all of Kundera's works. This was the last book having to do with Kundera that I had lined up, so it would have felt like quitting a marathon at the 26 mile marker. I had to finish it.

[Julian Gallo · Rating 4 out of 5]

For admirers of Milan Kundera's fiction, this is a very interesting essay which explores various aspects of his creative process.

[Thierry Dalon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great analysis of Kundera's work, sometimes eyes opening.

[elnaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book that I have ever read.