MILAN KUNDERA AND THE ONTOLOGY OF IGNORANCE

Abstract

Milan Kundera is of Czech origin a prominent writer, novelist, poet, storyteller, and playwright who pioneered modern literature in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In the novel Ignorance, Kundera talks about alienation, home, the absurdity of life, and returning after a long absence. He begins the novel with a quick redefinition of words and things. He explores the moment of facing the questions of homeland, exile, and return, a moment of redefining everything again. It is the moment of exposure to the original fragility of man. The research paper addresses the emotional tragedy experienced by migrants outside their homelands in Kundera’s novel Ignorance. The paper also shows the extent to which some immigrants adapt to the alternative homeland. It deals with nostalgia and the extent of its impact on humans. The research will present the topic of separation, alienation, and displacement. The research deals briefly with totalitarian regimes and the future psychological damage they cause to the individual and society. The idea of returning to the homelands is presented in the novel in a way contrary to reality, where the research addresses how the immigrant refuses to return after losing emotional and geographical ties with his original homeland.