What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
living a dishonest life
Where would you like to live?
in peace
What is your idea of earthly happiness?
dogs, good food, silence, good conversations, love, sleep, Stretch Appeal, meditation, painting, spending time with my children
To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
mental looping
Who are your favorite heroes of fiction?
*Tereza and Sabina from The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Who are your favorite characters in history?
Rosa Parks, JFK, Picasso
Who are your favorite heroines in real life?
people who show up
Who are your favorite heroines of fiction?
Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman
Your favorite Painter?
my dad
Your favorite musician?
Joni Mitchell
The quality you most admire in a man?
loyalty
The quality you most admire in a woman?
honesty
Your favorite virtue?
listening
Your favorite occupation?
teaching
Who would you have liked to be?
my middle sister
*Tereza: Young wife of Tomáš. A gentle, intellectual photographer, she delves into dangerous and dissident photojournalism during the Soviet occupation of Prague. Tereza does not condemn Tomáš for his
infidelities, instead characterizing herself as a weaker person. Tereza
is mostly defined by her view of the body as disgusting and shameful,
due to her mother's embrace of the body's grotesque functions.
Throughout the book she fears simply being another body in Tomáš' array
of women. Once Tomáš and Tereza move to the countryside, she devotes
herself to raising cattle and reading. During this time she learns about
her anima through an adoration of pet animals, reaching the conclusion
that they were the last link to the paradise abandoned by Adam and Eve and becomes alienated from other people.
Sabina: Tomáš' mistress and closest friend. Sabina lives her life as an extreme
example of lightness, taking profound satisfaction in the act of
betrayal. She declares war on kitsch and struggles against the constraints imposed by her puritan ancestry
and the Communist party. This struggle is shown through her paintings.
She occasionally expresses excitement at humiliation, shown through the
use of her grandfather's bowler hat, a symbol that is born during one sexual encounter with Tomáš, before it
eventually changes meaning and becomes a relic of the past. Later in
the novel she begins to correspond with Šimon while living under the
roof of some older Americans who admire her artistic skill. She
expresses her desire to be cremated and thrown to the winds after
death—a last symbol of eternal lightness.
