Audio only
Length2h 6m
About this audiobook
Two newly translated works from one of the greatest literary writers and thinkers of the modern age, available together in English for the first time.
Translating a work from its original language can be complicated; it’s a complex art that can easily mar and twist the intent and meaning of a writer’s words. Precise translations were of particular importance to Milan Kundera, who did not live to see all his books published in his native Czech language. Words, for Kundera, were the object of constant scrutiny.
This fascinating volume includes two Kundera works from the 1980s, originally written for the now defunct French magazine Le Debat, which have never been available in in English. In “89 Words,” Kundera wryly recounts the many pitfalls in reading his own poorly translated works. When a friend of Kundera’s asked him about the words he considered the most—the ones he fretted over and loved—Kundera created a personal dictionary—his “89 Words.” This discerning essay, steeped in his signature barbed cheekiness, showcases his casually gutting philosophical reflections on what it means to be a writer in translation—the exile of life and art in another language.
In the second work, “Prague: A Disappearing Poem,” Kundera writes with a wistfulness and despair for his ever-more-distant home, offering an intimate look at the specificity of his native culture: the richness of a heritage born in a “small nation” but whose significance is universal. Here, like in A Kidnapped West, we find the double condemnation of “Soviet civilization,” which had suffocated and persecuted Czech culture, and of Western Europe, which refused to neither acknowledge Kundera’s culture or understand it.
Prefaced by lauded French historian Pierre Nora and translated from the French by award-winning Matt Reeck, these two texts return us to Kundera’s much-missed living presence. Subtle, alive, and full of wit and irony, 89 Words followed by Prague, A Disappearing Poem is an homage to a literary legend and a reminder of just how prescient his words and insights are today.
Audiobook details
GenreHistory, Politics and Government, Literary Classics
Length2 hrs 6 mins
Narrated byCharles Constant
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateOct 7, 2025
LanguageEnglish
More from Milan Kundera
EncounterMilan Kundera4h 21m$20 · $0.00
ImmortalityMilan Kundera11h 54m$29 · $0.00
The Art of the NovelMilan Kundera4h 31m$20 · $0.00
Life Is ElsewhereMilan Kundera, Aaron Asher10h 19m$29 · $0.00
The Festival of InsignificanceMilan Kundera2h 33m$18 · $0.00
Farewell WaltzMilan Kundera7h 16m$24 · $0.00
The Book of Laughter and ForgettingMilan Kundera8h 20m$26 · $0.00
Laughable LovesMilan Kundera7h 3m$24 · $0.00
Testaments BetrayedMilan Kundera7h 37m$26 · $0.00
A Kidnapped WestMilan Kundera1h 25m$16 · $0.00
SlownessMilan Kundera3h 26m$18 · $0.00
The CurtainMilan Kundera4h 40m$20 · $0.00
Jacques and His MasterMilan Kundera1h 53m$16 · $0.00
The Unbearable Lightness of BeingMilan Kundera9h 36m$29 · $0.00
IgnoranceMilan Kundera4h 20m$20 · $0.00
IdentityMilan Kundera3h 53m$20 · $0.00
The JokeMilan Kundera11h 44m$29 · $0.00
Frederick Douglass: All 3 Memoirs in One VolumeFrederick Douglass44h 9m$2 · $0.00
I've Been to the MountaintopMartin Luther King48m5 (1)$11 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m$29 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m$8 · $0.00
The Red RecordIda B. Wells-Barnett2h 9m$2 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m$29 · $0.00
Saving My EnemyBob Welch9h 11m$20
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m$29 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m$33 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m$15
EnduranceAlfred Lansing6h 1m$20
LES MISERABLES (Illustrated Edition)Victor Hugo66h 17m$1 · $0.00
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m$33 · $0.00
Kings and PawnsHoward Bryant10h 9m$29 · $0.00
No EscapeNury Turkel9h 30m$28 · $0.00
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Complete 6 Volume Edition)Edward Gibbon179h 45m$2 · $0.00
Jubal Stone: U.S. Marshal: Blood Trail To Hell: A Western Adventure NovelCasey Nash3h 42m$18 · $0.00
Pardon of Innocencethe Author, Lieutenant General Michael T. Flynn (Ret.)6h 23m$23
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m$8 · $0.00
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m$29 · $0.00
Legally YoursManasi Chaudhari8h 52m$29 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m$33 · $0.00
RiggedMollie Hemingway12h 48m$23 · $0.00
The Thomas Sowell ReaderThomas Sowell14h 51m$25
SledgehammerDavid Friedman8h 21m$26 · $0.00
So You Want to Talk about RaceIjeoma Oluo7h 41m$17
No EscapeNury Turkel9h 30m$28 · $0.00
In Defense of the Second AmendmentLarry Correia6h 50m$17
UnthinkableJamie Raskin15h 8m$8 · $0.00
The ManbookNick Freitas5h 43m$24 · $0.00
My Fourth Time, We DrownedSally Hayden13h 59m$23 · $0.00
A Revolution of Common SenseScott Jennings9h 29m$29 · $0.00
Statement From the Dock at the Rivonia TrialNelson Mandela2h 18m$1 · $0.00
Lessons from the EdgeMarie Yovanovitch17h 11m$40 · $0.00
The Essential Works of George OrwellGeorge Orwell115h 42m$1 · $0.00
To Rescue the American SpiritBret Baier10h 12m$8 · $0.00
The Constitution of the United States of AmericaVarious70h 42m$1 · $0.00
The Complete Works: Charlotte, Emily, Anne, Patrick & Branwell BrontëCharlotte Brontë, Anne Brontë, Emily Brontë138h 12m$1 · $0.00
L. M. Montgomery – Premium Collection: Novels, Short Stories, Poetry & MemoirsLucy Maud Montgomery155h 55m$2 · $0.00
MARK TWAIN: 12 Novels, 195 Short Stories, Autobiography, 10 Travel Books, 160+ Essays & Speeches (Illustrated)Mark Twain415h 9m5 (2)$2 · $0.00
The Great Gatsby: Original 1925 Edition (An F. Scott Fitzgerald Classic NovelFrancis Scott Fitzgerald4h 45m$18 · $0.00
The Complete Works of TolstoyLeo Tolstoy412h 44m$1 · $0.00
Louisa May Alcott: 16 Novels in One Volume (Illustrated Edition)Louisa May Alcott141h 35m$2 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m$15
The Complete Works of Oscar WildeOscar Wilde80h 38m$1 · $0.00
The Complete Books of F. Scott Fitzgerald (all his 5 novels + all 4 short story collections published during his lifetime)F. Scott Fitzgerald86h 48m$2 · $0.00
The Count of Monte Cristo (With Original Illustrations)Alexandre Dumas54h 7m$1 · $0.00
Braving the TruthRachel Held Evans11h 31m$29 · $0.00
Richard Wagamese SelectedRichard Wagamese3h 14m$15
Henry V (The Play, Historical Background and Analysis of the Character in the Play)William Shakespeare, William Hazlitt8h 40m$1 · $0.00
Pathways to LightPrakash Amte7h 6m$8
The North American Indian (Illustrated Edition)Edward S. Curtis, Frederick Webb Hodge6h$2 · $0.00
The Holy BibleKing James99h 50m$12 · $0.00
The Complete Novels of the Brontë Sisters (8 Novels: Jane Eyre, Shirley, Villette, The Professor, Emma, Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall)Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë118h 9m$2 · $0.00
The Greatest Works of Jules VerneJules Verne247h 39m$2 · $0.00
The Complete Works of G. K. ChestertonG. K. Chesterton421h 4m$2 · $0.00
Time RegainedMarcel Proust15h 54m$2 · $0.00
You may also like
The Matisse StoriesA. S. Byatt2h 36m$12 · $0.00
The Memoirs of Victor HugoVictor Hugo10h 21m$2 · $0.00
Reconstruction of the PoetZbigniew Herbert3h 53m$20 · $0.00
The Autumn of the PatriarchGabriel García Márquez8h 57m$20
The Essential Works of George OrwellGeorge Orwell115h 42m$1 · $0.00
Sonnets, and Sonnets on English Dramatic Poets (1590-1650)Algernon Charles Swinburne43m$2 · $0.00
Hannah ArendtAnne C. Heller4h 11m$15 · $0.00
MurmurWill Eaves6h 3m$17 · $0.00
The Works Of Lord Byron, Letters and Journals, Vol 2Lord Byron19h 21m$2.30
Arab and JewDavid K. Shipler27h 52m$30
The Psychic Soviet, and Other WorksIan F. Svenonius6h 8m$17 · $0.00
The Poems and Prose of Ernest Dowson, With a Memoir by Arthur SymonsErnest Christopher Dowson5h 6m$1 · $0.00
My Disillusionment in RussiaEmma Goldman5h 38m$2.30
Philosophy Talk, Vol. 1John Perry, Ken Taylor8h 17m$20
White GuiltShelby Steele5h 28m$24 · $0.00
Mrs. DallowayVirginia Woolf6h 56m$2.40
A Woman in the CrossfireSamar Yazbek10h 50m$20
Mary Chesnut's Civil WarMary Chesnut50h 41m$40
StasilandAnna Funder10h 40m$20
First ChildhoodLord Berners6h 4m$1 · $0.00