--- product_id: 12111576 title: "Immortality: A Novel (Perennial Classics)" price: "€ 32.39" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.at/products/12111576-immortality-a-novel-perennial-classics store_origin: AT region: Austria --- # Immortality: A Novel (Perennial Classics) **Price:** € 32.39 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Immortality: A Novel (Perennial Classics) - **How much does it cost?** € 32.39 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.at](https://www.desertcart.at/products/12111576-immortality-a-novel-perennial-classics) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description New York Times Bestseller "Inspired. . . . Kundera's most brilliantly imagined novel. . . . A book that entrances, beguiles and charms us from first page to last." — Cleveland Plain Dealer Milan Kundera's sixth novel springs from a casual gesture of a woman to her swimming instructor, a gesture that creates a character in the mind of a writer named Kundera. Like Flaubert's Emma or Tolstoy's Anna, Kundera's Agnès becomes an object of fascination, of indefinable longing. From that character springs a novel, a gesture of the imagination that both embodies and articulates Milan Kundera's supreme mastery of the novel and its purpose: to explore thoroughly the great themes of existence. Review: Awesome and witty -- wonderfully entertaining and insightful - Milan Kundera is the best novelist I have ever read. His power lies in his great intellect, keen and unerring observations of human behaviors, and his immaculate control of language to yield the exact effect he desires. Even though I cannot read his works in the original Czech or French, the English translations are as, if not more, satisfying than the greatest of original English works. "Immortality" proves to be even better than the already awe-inspiring "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting." The point really is not the plot, but how it's plotted. It's the originality of working his voice into the surface of the text without subverting the comfortable author-reader decorum. It's the exploration of the nature (or un-nature?) of relationships, the impossibity of understanding between "different" kinds of people, and the longing for those with whom such understanding is possible. Agnes for her father. Her father for a woman that he might have met too late in life. Milan Kundera for an ideal reader. The other part of the plot is centered on the anecdotal relation between Goethe and Bettina. It's a long discussion of how the title of the book, immortality, figures in in a relationship such as that between Goethe and Bettina. The story itself is fascinating enough that I never raised a question as to why the two plots are set side by side. I might come upon some insight later on, but one thing is pretty clear, Bettina is what Agnes is not. Even though the book seems to caste Agnes' sister Laura as Agnes' opposite, Bettina is the real counterpart to Agnes. One yearns for immortality in the public memory, the other for a quiet, private understanding. And from the sympathy he bestows upon Agnes, it is quite obvious that Kundera is partial to Agnes' kind yearning. But he also understands Bettina perfectly well. After all, he shares the same yearning for immortality. Review: Great book - In great condition & delivered on time. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #105,086 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #2,273 in Classic Literature & Fiction #5,021 in Literary Fiction (Books) #36,778 in Genre Literature & Fiction | | Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 446 Reviews | ## Images ![Immortality: A Novel (Perennial Classics) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71LPqVJa0aL.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Media Language, Media Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Awesome and witty -- wonderfully entertaining and insightful *by S***E on July 10, 2010* Milan Kundera is the best novelist I have ever read. His power lies in his great intellect, keen and unerring observations of human behaviors, and his immaculate control of language to yield the exact effect he desires. Even though I cannot read his works in the original Czech or French, the English translations are as, if not more, satisfying than the greatest of original English works. "Immortality" proves to be even better than the already awe-inspiring "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting." The point really is not the plot, but how it's plotted. It's the originality of working his voice into the surface of the text without subverting the comfortable author-reader decorum. It's the exploration of the nature (or un-nature?) of relationships, the impossibity of understanding between "different" kinds of people, and the longing for those with whom such understanding is possible. Agnes for her father. Her father for a woman that he might have met too late in life. Milan Kundera for an ideal reader. The other part of the plot is centered on the anecdotal relation between Goethe and Bettina. It's a long discussion of how the title of the book, immortality, figures in in a relationship such as that between Goethe and Bettina. The story itself is fascinating enough that I never raised a question as to why the two plots are set side by side. I might come upon some insight later on, but one thing is pretty clear, Bettina is what Agnes is not. Even though the book seems to caste Agnes' sister Laura as Agnes' opposite, Bettina is the real counterpart to Agnes. One yearns for immortality in the public memory, the other for a quiet, private understanding. And from the sympathy he bestows upon Agnes, it is quite obvious that Kundera is partial to Agnes' kind yearning. But he also understands Bettina perfectly well. After all, he shares the same yearning for immortality. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great book *by J***R on November 22, 2024* In great condition & delivered on time. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pleasant read with many interruptions in the main story. *by M***O on July 14, 2014* No argument about the material and the major point of the story, It is a pleasant read. I felt that Milan Kundera's viewpoint on immortality is more geared towards the artists' community. There are definitely very many points that I started feeling it is now becoming more general, but a lot of interruptions in the story made it sometimes hard to follow the main point. I personally enjoyed his other work better, i.e. The unbearable lightness of being, primarily due to less interruptions in the main story. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.at/products/12111576-immortality-a-novel-perennial-classics](https://www.desertcart.at/products/12111576-immortality-a-novel-perennial-classics) --- *Product available on Desertcart Austria* *Store origin: AT* *Last updated: 2026-11-08*