Méditations sur le temps à l’ère des paradoxes terminaux dans La Lenteur de Milan Kundera
Meditations on Time in the Era of Terminal Paradoxes in La Lenteur by Milan Kundera

Summary/Abstract: In this study, we aim to delineate the conception of time in La Lenteur by Milan Kundera. More particularly, we seek to meditate upon the notion of time in the age of terminal paradoxes, characterised by the “oblivion of being” and the erasure of memory. This oblivion is provoked by speed, and thus not only leads to a loss of memory, but also to a loss of pleasure. And this, because speed, a form of ecstasy, is unable to foster a fluent relation to memory and to the world. Time through the prism of speed is a suspended and problematic time. In contrast, Kundera creates a eulogy for slowness through a rereading of Vivant Denon’s novella Point de lendemain and Laclos’ Les Liasions dangereuses. He thus notes that we not only transitioned from the age of slowness to that of speed, but also from the age of secrets to that of exhibitionism, as a way to erase oneself in the face of time. The novelist thus uses an architecture both dense and bare in order to elaborate the theme of slowness in contrast to that of speed. Furthermore, the bare language and the short chapters of La Lenteur allow for a problematisation of the theme of speed, of oblivion, of slowness and of memory in relation to a plural writing, thus defying generic classifications. In short, the novel’s form explores the themes that the work portrays. In addition, Kundera reinvents the great novelists who invented or improved the art of the novel. This rehabilitation is a writing of memory and a battle against oblivion, and ipso facto, a tribute to time and to his predecessors. This study essentially aims to explore the temporal experience in La Lenteur by Kundera in order to show the complicity of memory and slowness, speed and oblivion.

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