How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph), with the exception of Part V, which runs (Part#. "Short Title". Paragraph). Part V has no numbered chapters—only title headings.
Quote #1
When she reproached him, the first time they made love, about his acting too intellectual, he had tried, starting the next day, to correct that impression by showing spontaneous, unbridled passion. (I.9.4)
We have to understand that the term "intellectual" carries a negative connotation in Communist Czechoslovakia (as it sometimes does in the United States, too, unfortunately). There's such a strong bias against intellectualism that the word "intellectual" becomes one of the deepest insults one can dish out. (And it's no surprise since the thing with intellectuals is that they're smart enough to see through Communist propaganda—and that makes them dangerous.)
In this case, Mirek gets zinged about his sexual prowess. He can't let it be, of course, and he tries his best to impress Zdena. But she's having none of it. The chemistry just isn't there between them.
Quote #2
Some years ago, Marketa had urged him to make love in a threesome with her and a mistress of his she was jealous of. Her proposal made him dizzy with arousal! But the evening scarcely gave him any pleasure. On the contrary, it was a horrible effort! (II.8.7)
Poor Karel. He just can't get no satisfaction in his love life, no matter how enticing the opportunities seem. His major problem? Total self-absorption. Karel harbors a longstanding inferiority complex because he couldn't make love with his mother's beautiful friend when he was 4 years old (yeah, we can't make this stuff up), so most sexual encounters leave him feeling empty and wanting more. It's not until a Mrs. Nora lookalike appears that Karel can feel sexual gratification. As for the real women in his life? They'll just have to resort to each other.
Quote #3
During that brief rest period, it wasn't Mrs. Nora he was seeing but his old girlfriends, his life's witnesses Marketa and Eva, and he felt like a great chess player who has conquered opponents simultaneously on two chessboards. (II.11.17)
Karel's ego is totally gratified by having had sex with his wife and mistress at the same time. He's got that cat-that-ate-the-canary sense of satisfaction, and he can't help crowing about it. In his mind, he has just done something wonderful: he's conquered the space-time continuum to make love with a beautiful woman from his infancy. It's quite pervy, really, and neither Marketa nor Eva is particularly impressed.
Quote #4
Marketa let herself be made love to by this mechanical male body, then watched that body flinging itself between Eva's legs, but she tried not to see the face, so as to think of it as a stranger's body. It was a masked ball. (II.12.5)
Sex and love are problematic in Kundera's work, mostly because of identity issues and problems with communication. Marketa doesn't know how to access her own sensual pleasure until she finds a way to "decapitate" her husband in her mind. When she doesn't have to deal with his face (i.e., his proper identity), she doesn't have to think about their history together. And without the pain of the past, sex finally becomes pleasurable.
Quote #5
But Tamina did not push him away, and her grimace and averted head aroused him enormously. None of the few women he had known up to now had ever responded so eloquently to his caresses. (IV.20.14)
Hugo doesn't strike us as the most appealing human being. He's got smelly breath, and to be honest, he's a total predator. He promises to fetch Tamina's notebooks for her from Prague, but it's in order to get close to her and force her into a sexual relationship with him. In fact, it's actually Tamina's revulsion that arouses Hugo (since he's never been able to get a response from any other woman). This doesn't help Tamina work out her attachment issues at all. In fact, this act of sexual violence pushes her deeper into isolation and a desire to die.
Quote #6
She had once undergone minor surgery without anesthesia, forcing herself during the operation to review English irregular verbs. Now she tried to do the same by concentrating entirely on her notebooks. (IV.21.1)
Why is Tamina having sex with Hugo when she thinks of it as if it were a root canal? It's hard to say. It's possible that she's just trying to stay in his good graces so that he'll retrieve her notebooks from Prague. It's equally possible that she's simply the victim of a sexual predator who sees that she's vulnerable and has no problem exploiting that. Kundera hints that it may be a combination of these two things: Tamina feels trapped into continuing this traumatizing encounter because of her desire to keep her past life with her husband intact.
Quote #7
And so she closed her eyes again to enjoy her body, because for the first time in her life her body was taking pleasure in the absence of the soul, which, imagining nothing, remembering nothing, had quietly left the room. (VI.16.5)
Tamina has a metaphysical experience that's difficult to understand. It's also highly creepy since it involves children as givers of pleasure. Kundera seems to want us to focus less on the creep factor of the situation and more on the concept of "weightlessness": an existence not dragged down by pesky things like morals, memories, or ideals. But, of course, the point is that this kind of weightlessness forces us back into a kind of metaphysical childhood, in all the worst ways.
Quote #8
The two young people lie naked side by side, filled with an immense, vague desire. They embrace, press against each other, are closely entwined. They stay this way for a long, long time, not knowing what more to do. They think that this embrace is the beginning and end of love's pleasure. They are aroused, their hearts are pounding, but they do not know what it is to make love. (VII.2.5)
This is the story of Daphnis and Chloe, those ancient adolescents who got the first taste of sexual arousal and thought that they'd hit the jackpot. Jan wants to be just like them so that he never knows the disappointment of sexual "fulfillment." He's known from an early age that there has to be something more out there than just the limited experience of human sexuality—but he doesn't know what it could be.
Quote #9
"All I mean," replied Jan, "is that rape is part of eroticism, but castration is its negation."
Edwige emptied her glass in one gulp and responded angrily: "If rape is part of eroticism, then eroticism as a whole is directed against women and it's necessary to invent another kind." (VII.8.18-19)
Jan represents a damaging myth of sexuality that persists in many parts of society: that rape fantasies (and rape itself) are a normal part of male arousal and sexuality. In his mind, women's desire to efface this fantasy emasculates men. Edwige (like us) is not buying it and ultimately takes Jan down a notch by laughing at him and his stupid theories.
Quote #10
I am trying to say that midway through his very long journey as a virgin, he already knew what it is to be bored with the female body. Even before he had ever experienced climax, he had already arrived mentally at the end of arousal. He had experienced its exhaustibility. (VII.11.12)
Jan's having some serious difficulties with human sexuality: he just can't be satisfied with it knowing that it's merely repetition of the same old thing. In this way, Jan is a lot like Karel, who just can't seem to find the right level of novelty to make him feel as good about himself as he thinks he deserves to feel in a sexual encounter.