hey erin,
i have read the unbearable lightness....., and loved the film aswell.
kundera is one of my favourite authors. in one of his other books -
immortality - his own character remarks towards the end of the book that
only metaphor can capture the essence of human nature, character, meaning.
pretty pirsigean i thought.
getting back to lightness....i think that the passage you quoted can help
resolve this particular thread. in the book, the lightness of one character
(the surgeon, i forget the charcaeter's name) attracts and is attracted to
the heavy and vulnerable soul of ?(juliette binoche's character in the
film). in the course of the relationship the polarity of this relationship
shifts more than once and in the end there is a final resolution - a
satisfied resignation at their life together (i won't go on and spoil it for
those who are unfamiliar) and the changes in each of their characters.
perhaps when john talks of mystic detachment it is similar to this lightness
but not as kundera makes out. rather the lightness in many ways is more real
than to be rooted in the heaviness of the world. but as day lewis' character
finds in the film, his ideal light life is somehow not enough and he is
drawn to the sensitive and somewhat gauche binoche. in the end he finds out
that he doesn't regret his deicision but he doubts this for most of the
book.
likewise binoche's character's devotion to her beau is total - painful. she
learns that she has to live more lightly lest the pain of her love and
jealousy be too much for her sanity. and in the end this process culminates
also in a reinforcement rather than a diminution of the mutual affection.
perhaps what we can gather - and kundera would probably agree - is that a
mixture of lightness and heaviness is what we need to fulfil ourselves. yin
and yang perhaps. in this context perhaps the idea of the politically and
emotionally active mystic is easier to imagine.
cheers
gav
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