Milan Kundera’s Slowness: An Astuce for Better Socio-Economic Life

Abstract

Slowness and speed, the two approaches always find each other in the world to prove their effectiveness. The revolution in new technologies and the dominant status of the media in modern times govern us and constantly change our relationship with the world. In fact, we have become slaves to speed under economic indicators. The words of Edgar Morin, a French sociologist and philosopher, in praise of slowness are relevant here. He affirms: Just as there is a slow food movement, we should develop slow time, slow travel, slow work or slow city. It is more important to live life than to chase it. Considering these points that promote slowness, the questions that seem important to raise here: How does the practice of slow movement seem to be a better choice to enhance the nature of quality? How does it lead us to find a life independent of the tyranny of speed? Could there be a link between the pace of life and happiness? Milan Kundera, a Czech writer, deals with these two phenomenon in his novel Slowness through themes such as love, oblivion, psychological pleasure and memory in the context of their manifestation in the 18th century and in modern times. A preliminary reading of this work indicates that slowness is the wisdom of human life. The observation of such facts by specialists such as Frederic Gros, a French philosopher on slowness and Paul Virilio, a great contemporary French cultural theorist who has worked on technology and speed and who has made a serious observation about technological progress: The earth is terrorized by the instantaneity of fear!’’ will be percussive in reinforcing the aim of our hypothesis. In order to better understand the idea that slowness is the quintessence of reasonable life, this paper is divided into two parts. Firstly, I will address the various aspects of modern socio-economic factors in relation to speed evoked in the novel. Then I will focus on cases that express the notion of slowness evoking the balanced nomenclature for the socially and economically productive life.