This is a book of essays in nine parts, in which Kundera reflects on the novel, music and modern literature. He discusses writers such as Kafka, Stravinsky, Janacek and Hemingway, and argues that their works have often been misread, edited or twisted against their authors' wishes. He also considers the place of Central Europe in culture and the ways memory and ideology shape reputations. It is an engaged, personal introduction to his ideas about art.