Klima, a celebrated jazz trumpeter, receives a phone call announcing that a young nurse with whom he spent a brief night at a fertility spa is pregnant. She has decided he is the father.
And so begins a comedy which, during five madcap days, unfolds with ever-increasing speed. Klima's beautiful, jealous wife, the nurse's equally jealous boyfriend, a fanatical gynaecologist, a rich American, at once Don Juan and saint, and an elderly political prisoner who, just before his emigration, is holding a farewell party at the spa are all drawn into this black comedy, as in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
As usual, Milan Kundera poses serious questions with a blasphemous lightness which makes us understand that the modern world has taken away our right to tragedy.
- ISBN10 0571194710
- ISBN13 9780571194711
- Publish Date 3 August 1998 (first published 21 April 1998)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 12 March 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Faber & Faber
- Edition Main - Re-issue
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 288
- Language English