{"product_id":"encounter-9780061894435","title":"Encounter","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"I can't imagine reading this book without being challenged and instructed, amused, amazed and aroused, and ultimately delighted.\" \u003c\/strong\u003e--\u003cstrong\u003eJohn Simon, \u003cem\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMilan Kundera's brilliant collection of essays is a passionate defense of art in an era that, he argues, no longer values art or beauty. With the same dazzling mix of emotion and ideas that characterizes his bestselling novels, the internationally acclaimed author revisits the artists whose works help us better understand what it means to be human. Elegant, startlingly original, and provocative, \u003cem\u003eEncounter\u003c\/em\u003e combines many of the author's signature themes with personal reflections and stories.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKundera, Milan:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eMilan Kundera is the author of the novels \u003cem\u003eThe Joke, Farewell Waltz, Life Is Elsewhere, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, The Unbearable Lightness of Being\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eImmortality\u003c\/em\u003e, and the short-story collection \u003cem\u003eLaughable Loves\u003c\/em\u003e--all originally written in Czech. His most recent novels \u003cem\u003eSlowness, Identity, and Ignorance\u003c\/em\u003e, as well as his nonfiction works \u003cem\u003eThe Art of the Novel, Testaments Betrayed, The Curtain, \u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eEncounter\u003c\/em\u003e, were originally written in French.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50491400356114,"sku":"9780061894435","price":10.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_7928c851-9f34-4b16-b15c-69b255639995.jpg?v=1730540394","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/encounter-9780061894435","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}