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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How do Karel and Eva conspire?

2. Who is waiting for Mirek when he arrives back home?

3. Who does Karel picture in his mind when he, Marketa and Eva are together later?

4. What do Karel and Eva think is important to Marketa?

5. How does Kundera feel about the dancing?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why do you think Kundera agrees to write an astrology column?

2. What is upsetting about Mama's visit and why doesn't Marketa do anything about it?

3. What is it that Marketa does not know about Eva and do you think Marketa would care at this point if she learned this?

4. What happens when Mirek arrives back home and how is this somewhat ironic?

5. What is the larger meaning of the letters which Mirek is supposedly seeking to have back?

6. What do Kundera and other students do around 1948 and why? Do you think Kundera is speaking metaphorically or actuality.

7. What is Zdena response to Mirek's request for his letters and do you think she is being fair to Mirek?

8. Why does Mirek want his old love letters back from Zdena and do you think his goal is possible?

9. Why does Kundera quit dancing and what does he imagine about the dancing? Of what do you think his imagining about the dancing is symbolic?

10. What is the meaning of laughter in part 3?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Part 4, Kundera describes graphomania, which is the obsessive drive to write a book. In order for this condition to exist, the people in the society must have an elevated sense of well-being, an absence of dramatic events in their life and a general isolation between individuals. Discuss the following:

1. Research the term graphomania and explain it fully.

2. Do you think all writers suffer from graphomania?

3. From what compulsion do writers that do not come from countries with the conditions listed above write?

4. Do you think Kundera suffers from graphomania?

Essay Topic 2

In Part 5, Litost, Kundera introduces us to the concept of litost, which is a Czech word that means a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one's own misery.

1. Explain more fully the concept of litost and give five examples of litost from throughout the book.

2. Though litost is a Czech word, do you think people in other countries experience litost?

3. Do you think litost is necessary to be a great poet and/or philosopher? Why or why not?

4. What do you think litost is called in the English language?

Essay Topic 3

In Part 4, we learn that shortly after her husband's death, Tamina swallows a bottle of prescription pills and swims out into the sea. Rather than become sleepy and sink, she instead becomes revitalized and finds a treasured silence within her. She comes back to shore and continues to live. Discuss the following:

1. Is Tamina performing an act of forgetting or remembering by her suicide attempt?

2. What do you think is the silence Tamina finds within herself? Do you think it is a positive thing? Why or why not?

3. When Tamina comes back to shore and continues to live, what do you think is the quality of her life? Explain with details from the text.

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