Sixteen Measures of Infinity. On Milan Kundera [Volume: 7(1988), pp. 399-409]

SIXTEEN MEASURES OF INFINITY
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might confirm the principle of identitatis indisceribilium-that is simply
inconceivable in Tomas's world. What Tomas is after is rather the principle
of differentiation in a world of smothering stereotype. His philosophical
erotomania drives him madly in search of the "one-millionth part dissimilarity" [ULB:199] to be found in every woman. Leibniz pursues identity
in a sparklingly varied world. Tomas searches for variety in a world of
suffocating simila.ity. We may, therefore, answer, that whereas the old
novelist-philosophers naively took variety for granted, Kundera's heroes
must constantly strive to construct variety, even as they do so in vain.
From Kundera's symbolic framework, it follows that the novel halts
where the "small" metaphysic gives way to the "great." By definition,
therefore, the novel cannot exist within Russian civilization. But what
can this mean? We must understand this in terms of metaphysics, and
not in terms of literary criticism. The Russian novel, driven by a "great"
metaphysic, must take on the character of the epic. Wherein lies the difference between the "great" epic and the "small" novel? The novel is
interrogational and "unserious" (i.e., without weight), whereas the epic
is founded on affirmation, providing "answers" as well as a totalizing
"truth." On the literary side, the epic may be carnival-like, as in the works
of Dostoevsky. Philosophically, however, there is something else going on.
For its standpoint is not the diversity of the world but the unity of the
world, even if attained through the dramatic clash of opposites. The epic
is drawn to monism, not to variationism. Just like in music: how fundamentally different is the "small" polyphonic form from the "great" form!
The epic is consumed by a "lyrical obsession hinging on the search for
identity within everything." The novel, on the other hand, realizes itself
through exploration of the world's multiplicity. The former is concerned
only with the final "answer," and therefore frequently flirts with nihilism.
The latter is concerned with questions, and therefore "nothing can disappoint it." Dostoevsky's novels are epics, searching for orthodox Russia
within everything, and always disappointed at finding the occidental.
From the standpoint of the epic, emigration is damnation, a violent
separation from the providential motherland, whereby the individual is
torn away from the absolute of the nation. According to the epic, small
being can find meaning only within the bounds of the great. From the
perspective of the variational novel, however, emigration is a gift. It brings
the blessing of change and the adventure of asking new questions. Emigration brings residence in the kingdom of variety. "For a writer," Kundera
confesses,
the experience of living in a number of countries is an enormous
boon. You can only understand the world if you see it from several
sides. [BLF:231]