Alison Flood writes in The Guardian saying, "Prestigious writers issue statement defending Milan Kundera against charges of betraying dissident."And we thought we had left James Bonds of the world to the silver screens for good.Eleven authors -- Nadine Gordimer, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Orhan Pamuk, Philip Roth, Salman Rushie, JM Coetzee, Jean Daniel, Carlos Fuentes, Juan Goytisolo, Pierre Mertens and Jorge Semprun -- have issued a statement denouncing this "orchestrated campaign of calumny" saying that the honour of one of the greatest living novelists has been tarnished on dubious grounds, to say the least".
Wow, talk about illustrious company.
A Czech magazine, Respekt, alleged last month that Kundera had informed police about the whereabouts of Miroslav Dvoracek, who was then spying for the US, in 1950. Dvoracek spent 14 years in jail.
Kundera, 79, who is known to be a critic of communism, has categorically denied the accusations and issued a stout denial. He is quoted: "I am totally astonished by something that I did not expect, about which I knew nothing only yesterday, and that did not happen. I did not know the man at all."
The Guardian
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