告别圆舞曲 – Farewell Waltz by Milan Kundera

《告别圆舞曲》曾荣获意大利最佳外国文学奖，是米兰·昆德拉重要的小说代表作，于1969－1970年间在波希米亚完成。该作品构思巧妙，极富黑色幽默风格，是公认的当代文学杰作，在全世界34个国家和地区出版。小说以苏联入侵布拉格为政治背景，通过小号手、美国商人、疗养院护士和获释囚徒等8个人物反复曲折的爱情故事，在哲学层面深刻探讨了诸多人生繁杂矛盾的困境和难题。

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 in which, during five madcap days, events unfold with ever-increasing speed. Klima’s beautiful, jealous wife; the nurse’s equally jealous boyfriend; a fanatical gynecologist; 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.