10 Most Amazing And Inspiring Refugees In History

Milan Kundera, author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, has been a regular contender for the Nobel prize in literature for years. His work powerfully addresses political and philosophical themes, profoundly questioning the individual's place and worth in society as well as, more broadly, in the universe. 

However Kundera's first novel, The Joke, was essentially a series of jabs at the bizarre bureaucracy of Czechoslovakian Communist government. As is usually the case the Communist government didn't think too much of this at the time and Kundera was fired from his position as a lecturer of world literature and was eventually exiled from the country. 

The invasion of Czechoslovakia by Russian forces following an attempted uprising saw Soviet authorities view Kundera's work as counter-revolutionary and they were highly suspicious of his calls

for greater artistic freedom. Kundera took refugee in France where, although he did not make any flashy media appearances, he continued to write books critical of Communist totalitarianism, often with elements of black humour which mocked the self seriousness of Communist regimes.