After Milan Kundera's death, his works received widespread attention. Although Kundera did not receive the Nobel Prize, he was highly praised by the French literary community and his works were included in the "Seven Star Library". Kundera has strict requirements for the inclusion and annotation of his works, and only allows Fran ç ois Ricard to write a brief introduction to his works. Ricard has been a licensed interpreter of Kundera's works since 1978, and his critical methods and interpretation of Kundera's works have unique value.

Criticism stance: Beyond political aesthetic perspective

Fran ç ois Ricard is a French literature professor at McGill University in Canada, founder of the magazine "Freedom", and novelist. He has been a loyal reader of Kundera since the 1970s. In 1978, Ricard wrote a review article on Kundera's work titled "Satan's Perspective" for the magazine "Freedom", which was highly praised by Kundera and regarded as a sequel to his work. Ricard's criticism goes beyond the political context and interprets Kundera from an artistic aesthetic perspective, which is in line with Kundera's stance of opposing ideological interpretation. Kundera's novels contain political and historical events, but he himself focuses more on creating the situations in which characters exist through these elements, capturing the ultimate paradox of modernity, rather than directly expressing political positions. Ricard's critical articles are regarded as an aesthetic interpretation of Kundera's works, and he evaluates Kundera's novels using keywords such as "harsh," "challenging," and "destructive," believing that his works subvert traditional forms of fiction. The friendship and collaboration between Kundera and Ricard lasted for many years, with Ricard becoming the author of the afterword to Kundera's works, and his commentary accompanying Kundera's novels to the world.

Internal Reading: Mountain Imagery and Panoramic View

Fran ç ois Ricard's criticism of Kundera's novels is based on aesthetic observation, and its uniqueness lies in the combination of political and literary elements. Ricard's monograph "The Last Afternoon of Anes: On Milan Kundera's Works" systematically presents his critical perspective, using the method of "inner reading" to view the work as its "place" rather than simply its "object". He compared Kundera's works to a whole of "mountains" through the imagery of "mountains" and "roads" in his novel "Immortal", with ten novels forming the "spine" and three side peak works. Ricard downplayed the boundaries between works, emphasizing continuity and parallelism between them, and advocating a "panoramic" perspective to view Kundera's creations. He believes that every work of Kundera is an extension of the previous one, with themes, characters, and scenes flowing through the work, forming interconnected interpretive loops. Ricard's criticism aims to guide readers beyond the boundaries of a single work, to see the panorama of Kundera's works, and thus to have a more comprehensive understanding of their value.

3. Open Journey: Road Fiction and "Rediscover"

In depth exploration of Fran ç ois Ricard's interpretation of Kundera's works, particularly how he views Kundera's novels as an interconnected whole, while emphasizing the uniqueness of each work. Ricard used the theory of "mountains" to compare Kundera's works to Picasso's paintings from different periods, warning readers not to only search for premonitions of the later works in the previous works, but to pay attention to the value of individual works. He maintained the independence of his works and viewed Kundera's portfolio as a whole through keyword extraction, while playing the role of a "guide" himself.

4 Conclusion

Ricard sees Kundera's works as a world worth exploring in depth, and he sees himself as a defender of Kundera's novel aesthetics, dedicated to restoring freedom of criticism. He delves into the core of the work from an aesthetic perspective, closely linking criticism with the work. Ricard's final work, "Novels of Destruction: Variations on Milan Kundera's Works," includes over 40 years of his critical works. He hopes readers will view it as a traveler's notebook, documenting his discoveries, problems, and experiences with Kundera's works. Ricard passed away in 2022, and Shanghai Translation Publishing House reprinted 'The Last Afternoon of Anes' in memory of him. Kundera's works are often misunderstood, and Ricard's understanding and justification are particularly important. After more than forty years of companionship, Rikar's name is remembered along with Kundera.