Study Guide

The Unbearable Lightness of Being Part 5, Chapter 3

By Milan Kundera

Part 5, Chapter 3

When Tomas returned to Prague from Zurich, the chief surgeon asked him to retract the Oedipus article he wrote.
Tomas admits that defending the article isn't important to him (because of the way it was changed before publication).
But he knows that two things are at stake. If he retracts the article, he loses his honor. If he does not, he loses his job – the meaning of his entire life.
The chief tells him that they won't publish the retraction – they'll just keep it on file.
Tomas asks for a week to think it over.

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