Le kitsch dévoilé par Milan Kundera
Kitsch Unveiled by Milan Kundera

Summary/Abstract: Kitsch is a feeling that superimposes the illusion of an idyllic world on reality in order to satisfy the human longing for paradise lost. By casting a veil over the unsightly aspects of life, kitsch has the function of falsifying the authenticity of concrete experiences and devaluing them. Kundera represents it as a category that affects all aspects of existence, imposing itself as the plane of reference that should guide our tastes and choices. In order to oppose it, he uses the novelistic means of variation and irony: by varying the situations in which kitsch is revealed through the actions of his characters, the humour he uses allows him to lift the prudish veil with which kitsch covers the body in order to embellish it and present it without defilement. Likewise, as a good demystifier, he attacks political utopias in a jesting way, since they arouse feelings that make the world look different from what it is. Finally, the novelist ridicules artistic practices that make the work of art the reflection of ideas commonly shared by society. From this point of view, Kundera wants to reconcile man with the concreteness of life from which kitsch tries to separate us.

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