DOI:
AUTHOR(S)
Tahmina Jarin Khanam
ABSTRACT
Milan Kundera’s short story “Eduard and God” deals with the conflict between belief and ideological incongruity in a Communist state where religion and its manifestation cannot be practiced. It shows the spiritual and emotional unravelling of a man who attempts to balance faith and survival. It focuses on the conflict between what people truly believe in and what society expects them to believe. This paper will discuss the story as a postmodern parable, and how Kundera employs irony, paradox, and narrative fragmentation to critique not only religious dogma but also atheistic authoritarianism. Through a close reading of the text, this paper will bring out how Kundera depicts the performative faith of Eduard, the protagonist, as a survival strategy, which shows the absurdity of absolute belief systems in a politically oppressive society. The study uses a hermeneutic methodology, relying on postmodern theory and existentialist philosophy to place the work of Kundera in the context of the larger discussions of faith, power, and meaning. The results indicate that Kundera’s narrative technique does not comply with binary oppositions rather portrays belief as a vague, frequently ridiculous performance. In this light, the narrative calls into question the beliefs held by both religious clusters and ideological groups.
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