All great novels, all true novels, are bisexual.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that great novels encompass a broad spectrum of human experiences and emotions, including both masculine and feminine perspectives.
Milan Kundera's assertion that 'all great novels, all true novels, are bisexual' implies that literature transcends traditional gender binaries and reflects the complexities of human relationships. By embracing both male and female perspectives, novels can better capture the diverse and rich tapestry of life, enabling deeper connections and understandings among readers.
In practice
In a book club discussion, one might say, 'As Kundera noted, all great novels are bisexual, reflecting the complexity of love and identity.'
Which doesn't mean, of course, that I'd stopped loving her, that I'd forgotten her, or that her image had paled; on the contrary; in the form of a quiet nostalgia she remained constantly within me; I longed for her as one longs for something definitively lost.
Facts mean little compared to attitudes. To contradict rumor or sentiment is as futile as arguing against a believer's faith in the Immaculate Conception. You have simply become a victim of faith, Comrade Assistant.
While people are fairly young and the musical composition of their lives is still in its opening bars, they can go about writing it together and sharing motifs (the way Tomas and Sabina exchanged the motif of the bowler hat), but if they meet when they are older, like Franz and Sabina, their musical compositions are more or less complete, and every motif, every object, every word means something different to each of them.
Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view), consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it.
To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace.
Sensuality is the total mobilization of the senses: an individual observes his partner intently, straining to catch every sound.
A novel is not moral in the usual sense of the word. It can be called moral when it shakes us out of our stupor and makes us confront the absolutes we believe in.
I think the reason these readers come back to me is because I represent their points of view. It may not be my point of view, but that's OK. Everyone still deserves to have their say.
... and the very folds of the curtains contained secrets and sighs.
All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.
Listen closely. There’s a remote possibility that you might learn something: First, I don’t give a damn if my work is commercial or not…I’m the writer. If what I write is good, then people will read it. That’s why literature exists. An author puts his heart and guts on the page. For your information, a good novel can change the world. Keep that in mind before you attempt to sit down at a typewriter. Never waste time on something you don’t believe in yourself.
...in other words, all I want to be is the Jane Austen of south Alabama Interview - March 1964
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