Quote of the Day (Milan Kundera, Defining ‘The Small Nation’)

“The small nation is one whose very existence may be put in question at any moment; a small nation can disappear, and it knows it.”— Czech-born French novelist and short-story writer Milan Kundera, A Kidnapped West: The Tragedy of Central Europe, translated by Linda Asher (2023)

That definition applies to Ukraine—and, indeed, any country in the vicinity of Russia, in case Vladimir Putin’s invasion and human-rights violations go unchecked.

(The image of Milan Kundera accompanying this post was taken in 1980 by Elisa Cabot.)