His (for the most part, seven-part) novels feature characters in love affairs in tumultuous political times. In Unbearable Lightness, Kundera connects Nietzsche’s eternal return to his discussion of life’s narrative force. I am so sorry – I don’t know the rules here. He had lived through all the current events … He always believed he was hearing the heartbeat of the country. On the side of a Czech highway, I don’t know what to do.