Testaments Betrayed - An Essay in Nine Parts

"A defense of fiction and a lesson in the art of reading." —New York Times Book Review

"Testaments Betrayed is to be savored paragraph by paragraph. . . . It must be purchased, read, pondered, and argued within the margins. And frequently reread." — Washington Post

A brilliant and thought-provoking essay from one of the twentieth century’s masters of fiction, Testaments Betrayed is written like a novel: the same characters appear and reappear throughout the nine parts of the book, as do the principal themes that preoccupy the author. Kundera is a passionate defender of the moral rights of the artist and the respect due a work of art and its creator’s wishes. The betrayal of both—often by their most passionate proponents—is one of the key ideas that informs this strikingly original and elegant book.

In nine interlocking parts, this landmark essay on art, the novel, and music reveals the secret laws of composition and the testaments they leave behind.

The European Novel: Discover the secret history of the novel as an art form, from the comic genius of Rabelais and Cervantes to the modernism of Hermann Broch and Robert Musil. Franz Kafka's Comic Genius: A provocative rereading of Kafka that rejects the image of a tortured saint to reveal a master of dark humor, eroticism, and radical poetic freedom. Music and Literature: Explore the surprising connections between musical and novelistic composition through incisive essays on Stravinsky, Janacek, Hemingway, and Tolstoy. The Author's Betrayed Testament: A passionate defense of the artist’s intentions against the betrayals of translators, biographers, and executors who would distort a work's original meaning.