Literature and Learning How to Live: Milan Kundera's Theory of the Novel as a Quest for Maturity

This essay discusses the implications of Milan Kundera's conception of the novel for literary theory and history. It presents Kundera's theory of the novel as a search for a type of didacticism that inscribes the reader in a process of learning that does not have a concrete content or object of knowledge, but instead activates the reader's faculty of reflection and self-reflection. Kundera addresses this reflective attitude to the text as maturity and applies it to life at large. Maturity is not about learning correct values or coming to terms with reality; it is not about attaining the ultimate moment of completeness and definitive truths. Rather, maturity is a process and practice that embraces change and the capacity to see life from different perspectives. The novel is a catalyst and medium of this practice because it stimulates our ability to think, question, and, as a result, change.