On Slowness

A provocative and subtly moving fiction by Milan Kundera that weaves present day with an 18th Century novella. Witty yet often painful, Slowness explores themes of telling and retelling, of being seen. I was most touched by his reflection on the relationship between slowness and memory, that “the degree of speed is directly proportional to the intensity of forgetting.” In our hurried lives, we are so completely obsessed with the desire to forget. Our period picks up the pace even more to show us that it no longer wishes to be remembered. I guess he’s saying that there’s no need to worry, that it’s all already been forgotten.