Identity

Identity, Milan Kundera, Barcelona, Destino, 1998 (1997)

At first glance, this story of Kundera seems different from his past. As Immortality (1990), the author knows how to make the story a story, a narrative. And here is the same, a woman, Chantal, in the crisis of the forties, when they no longer have periods, with a ratio (second) with Jean-Marc, a little younger than she, and the illusion of the first relationship. She recalled at any time of the toddler’s death triggered the breakup of his first marriage. Since that time, only appears with the terrible terrible sons-in-law she denies. The relationship moves at all times at a point of permanent dissatisfaction. She remembers her son, and although happy, is not made with Jean-Marc. One day he says that “men are not fixed” and he tries to satisfy him with inventing a secret admirer who writes letters. She remains excited about the secrecy, saying nothing, but gradually finds the true identity of the lover. He who mistrusts his silence, force the situation. After the misunderstanding, the presence of the sister and children, she decides to leave without knowing where, finally in London, the new tunnel linking Europe with the British Isles, and he follows her, but they are not. Everything is a dream, a dream that reflected the unhappiness, dissatisfaction for them because they really can not find his true identity, since he changed his life after the death of her son, works, does many things, many people know, has a new love, but not found.

Kundera reveals once again the unsatisfactory human inner city in a gray that blends the sensations of the Prague native and resident of Paris. The characters move through inertia, reminiscent of ancient breakage, but now feel strange in themselves, without strength and courage to do anything. They only know that they feel bad about themselves. A careful study on the search for identity.