A heady, existential tale of seduction and romance by the author of modern classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

''An artist, clearly one of the best to be found anywhere.'' Salman Rushdie
''Kundera designs fictions of the highest order.'' Ian McEwan
''Audacity, wit and sheer brilliance.'' New York Times Book Review

In a French château on a midsummer''s night, two tales of seduction entwine, separated in time by over two hundred years, but united in their quest for sensual pleasure. Through their romantic endeavors, a contemporary holidaymaker and eighteenth-century chevalier illustrate our era''s obsession with the vulgar demon of speed - and the phenomenon of the dancer.

Oscillating between the sublime and ridiculous, the historic and the modern, Kundera''s first novel written in French is an enchanting libertine fantasy, radiant with intelligence and wisdom.