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 #4
The only amusing thing about it all was my existence, the existence of a man erased from history, from literary histories, and from the telephone book, of a dead man now returned to life in an amazing reincarnation to preach the great truth of astrology to hundreds of thousands of young people in a socialist country. (III.3.5)
Kundera recalls his life after expulsion from the Communist Party—and from his life as a revered writer and professor. He can't even find work to support himself until a loyal friend offers him the chance to write a horoscope column (anonymously, of course). But Kundera has lost his identity and any sense of professional camaraderie, writing on the sly as he is. He doesn't even have anyone with whom he can share the irony of writing an astrology column for a country full of supposed unbelievers.
Quote #5
Madame Raphael, the teacher, clipped that photo from the magazine and gazed at it dreamily. She too wished to dance in a ring. All her life she had looked for a circle of men and women with whom she could hold hands in a ring dance, at first in the Methodist Church...then in the Communist Party, then in the Trotskyist Party, then in a Trotskyist splinter party... (III.5.5)
As the immortal Bob Geldof once said, "Everybody's got a hole to fill." And for Madame Raphael, it's the lack of a sense of belonging. When she contemplates a picture of people dancing in a ring, we get it: she's desperately seeking her group of dancers in this life. And as with most desperate people, Madame Raphael ultimately grabs the wrong end of the stick in almost every situation—hence her membership in so many "parties." In the end, Madame has to create a circle dance where there really is none—and make a success of it come hell or high water.
Quote #6
I wandered through the streets of Prague, rings of laughing, dancing Czechs swirled around me, and I knew that I did not belong to them but belonged to Kalandra, who had also come loose from the circular trajectory and had fallen, fallen, to end his fall in a condemned man's coffin, but even though I did not belong to them, I nonetheless watched the dancing with envy and yearning, unable to take my eyes off them. (III.6.5)
Kundera speaks again of his sense of isolation after falling afoul of the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia. It's clear that his ideology doesn't jibe 100 percent with the Communists, but he does miss the feeling of being a part of something larger than himself. It's also difficult to see others being included in all the official celebrations, even though he knows these celebrations have been engineered to keep people's minds off the atrocities that are taking place under the regime.