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Milan Kundera

2025-11-01T06:42:32Z

2405:201:C00D:214A:A909:CEC5:B617:219E:

{{Short description|Czech and French novelist (1929–2023)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Milan Kundera
| image = Milan Kundera redux.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Kundera in 1980
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1929|4|1}}
| birth_place = [[Brno]], [[First Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovakia]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2023|7|11|1929|4|1}}
| death_place = Paris, France
| occupation = Novelist
| language = {{cslist|French|Czech}}
| citizenship = {{ubl|Czechoslovakia (until 1979)|[[Statelessness|Stateless]] (1979–1981)|France (from 1981)|Czech Republic (from 2019)}}
| alma_mater = {{ubl|[[Charles University]]|[[Academy of Performing Arts in Prague]]}}
| spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Olga Haasová-Smrčková|1956|end=div}}|{{marriage|Věra Hrabánková|1967}}}}
| parent = [[Ludvík Kundera (musicologist)|Ludvík Kundera]] (father)
| relatives = [[Ludvík Kundera]] (cousin)
| signature = Milan Kundera podpis.jpg
| website = 
}}

'''Milan Kundera''' ({{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|k|ʊ|n|d|ər|ə|,_|ˈ|k|ʌ|n|-}} {{respell|KU(U)N|dər|ə}};<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/kundera |title=Kundera |website=[[Collins English Dictionary]] |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |access-date=2 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.lexico.com/definition/Kundera,+Milan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211113111506/https://www.lexico.com/definition/kundera,_milan |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 November 2021 |title=Kundera, Milan |dictionary=[[Lexico]] UK English Dictionary |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> {{IPA|cs|ˈmɪlan ˈkundɛra|lang|Pronunciation cs milan kundera.ogg}}; 1 April 1929 – 11 July 2023) was a Czech and French novelist. Kundera went into exile in France in 1975, acquiring citizenship in 1981. His [[Czechoslovak citizenship]] was revoked in 1979, but he was granted [[Czech citizenship]] in 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Milan Kundera má po 40 letech opět české občanství – Novinky.cz |url=https://www.novinky.cz/domaci/clanek/milan-kundera-ma-po-40-letech-opet-ceske-obcanstvi-40305688 |access-date=2019-12-03 |website=novinky.cz|date=3 December 2019 }}</ref>

Kundera's best-known work is ''[[The Unbearable Lightness of Being]]''. Before the [[Velvet Revolution]] of 1989, the country's ruling [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia]] banned his books. He led a low-profile life and rarely spoke to the media.<ref name="kundera_rejects">{{Cite news |date=13 October 2008 |title=Kundera rejects Czech 'informer' tag |work=[[BBC News]] |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7668484.stm |access-date=13 October 2008 |quote=The Czech Republic's best-known author, Milan Kundera, has spoken to the media for the first time in 25 years ... .}}</ref> He was thought to be a contender for the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] and was also a nominee for other awards.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Crown |first=Sarah |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/oct/13/nobelprize.awardsandprizes2 |title=Nobel prize goes to Pinter |date=13 October 2005 |work=The Guardian |access-date=12 May 2010 |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200404/27/eng20040427_141663.shtml |title='Milan Kundera' coming to China |date=25 June 2004 |work=People's Daily |access-date=25 June 2004}}</ref>

Kundera was awarded the [[Jerusalem Prize]] in 1985, the [[Austrian State Prize for European Literature]] in 1987, and the [[Herder Prize]] in 2000. In 2021, he received the Golden Order of Merit from the president of [[Slovenia]], [[Borut Pahor]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=W3bStudio|date=2021-11-13|title=Pahor presents Golden Order of Merit to author Milan Kundera|url=https://sloveniatimes.com/pahor-presents-golden-order-of-merit-to-author-milan-kundera/|access-date=14 November 2021|website=Slovenia Times|language=en-US|archive-date=5 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405065349/https://sloveniatimes.com/pahor-presents-golden-order-of-merit-to-author-milan-kundera/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Milan Kundera was born on 1 April 1929 at Purkyňova 6 (6 [[Jan Evangelista Purkyně|Purkyně]] Street) in [[Královo Pole]], a district of [[Brno]], [[Czechoslovakia]] (present-day Czech Republic), to a middle-class family. His father, [[Ludvík Kundera (musicologist)|Ludvík Kundera]] (1891–1971), was an important Czech [[musicologist]] and pianist who served as the head of the [[Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts|Janáček Music Academy]] in Brno from 1948 to 1961.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mareček |first1=Luboš |title=Legacy of Leoš Janáček |url=https://en.jamu.cz/leos-janacek/ |website=JAMU |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Webb |first1=Kate |date=12 July 2023 |title=Milan Kundera obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jul/12/milan-kundera-obituary |access-date=13 July 2023 |work=The Guardian}}</ref><ref name="Darlingberg-2023" /> His mother Milada Kunderová (born Janošíková)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kunderová |first1=Milada |title=Milada Kunderová |url=https://encyklopedie.brna.cz/home-mmb/?acc=profil_osobnosti&load=25000 |website=Encyklopedie dějin města Brna |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref> was an educator.<ref name="Darlingberg-2023" /> His father died in 1971, and his mother in 1975.<ref name="Darlingberg-2023" />

Kundera learned to play the piano from his father and later studied [[musicology]] and musical composition. Musicological influences, references and [[musical notation|notation]] can be found throughout his work. Kundera was a cousin of Czech writer and translator [[Ludvík Kundera]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Ludvík Kundera |url=https://en.jamu.cz/artistic-and-research-activities/honorary-doctors-of-jamu/ludvik-kundera/ |website=JAMU |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref> In his youth, having been supported by his father in his musical education, he was testing his abilities as a composer.<ref name="Boyer-Weinmann-2023">{{Cite news |last=Boyer-Weinmann |first=Martine |date=2023-07-12 |title=Milan Kundera, existential novelist, has died |language=en |work=Le Monde |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/obituaries/article/2023/07/12/milan-kundera-existential-novelist-has-died_6050427_15.html |access-date=2023-07-14}}</ref><ref name="amoureux" /> One of his teachers at the time was [[Pavel Haas]].<ref name="Ivry-2023">{{Cite web |last=Ivry |first=Benjamin |date=2023-07-13 |title=How Milan Kundera embodied the Jewish spirit |url=https://forward.com/culture/554141/how-milan-kundera-embodied-jewish-spirit-remembrance-appreciation/ |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=[[The Forward]] |language=en}}</ref> His approach to music was eventually dampened due to his father not being able to launch a piano career for insisting on playing the music of modernist Jewish composer [[Arnold Schoenberg]].<ref name="amoureux" />

At the age of eighteen, he joined the [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia]] in 1947.<ref>Sanders, Ivan (1991). p. 103</ref> In 1984, he recalled that "Communism captivated me as much as [[Stravinsky]], [[Picasso]] and [[Surrealism]]."<ref name="Duffield-2023">{{cite web |last=Duffield |first=Charlie |title=What did Milan Kundera write? Author dies aged 94 |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/what-did-milan-kundera-write-author-dies-b1093891.html |access-date=13 July 2023 |website=[[Evening Standard]]|date=12 July 2023 }}</ref>

He attended lectures on music and composition at the [[Charles University]] in [[Prague]] but soon moved to the [[Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague]] (FAMU) to study film.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rüdenauer |first=Ulrich |date=12 July 2023 |title=Vom Lachen und Vergessen |url=https://www.zeit.de/kultur/literatur/2023-07/milan-kundera-schriftsteller-nachruf |access-date=2023-07-16 |website=[[Die Zeit]]}}</ref> In 1950, he was expelled from the party.<ref name="Boyer-Weinmann-2023" /> After graduating, the Film Faculty appointed Kundera a lecturer in world literature in 1952.<ref name="gale">{{cite web |last1=Culík |first1=Jan |title=Milan Kundera (1929-) |url=https://www.gale.com/intl/databases-explored/literature/milan-kundera |website=Gale |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref> Following the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia]] in 1968, he lost his job at the Film Faculty.<ref name="Kimball-1986">{{Cite journal |last=Kimball |first=Roger |year=1986 |title=Milan Kundera |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45266182 |journal=The Wilson Quarterly |publisher=[[The New Criterion]] |volume=10 |issue=3 |page=34 |jstor=45266182 |issn=0363-3276 }}</ref>
In 1956, Kundera also married for the first time, the operetta singer Olga Haas, the daughter of the composer and his teacher Pavel Haas and the doctor of Russian origin Sonia Jakobson, the first wife of [[Roman Jakobson]].<ref>{{cite magazine
| author=
| title = Milan Kundera
| periodical = Encyclopedia of the City of Brno
| publisher = Brno
| url = https://encyklopedie.brna.cz/home-mmb/?acc=profil_osobnosti&load=2196
| access-date = 2024-01-05
}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine
| title = Olga Haasová-Smrčková, niece of Hugo Haas and first wife of Milan Kundera, has died
| periodical = IDNES.cz
| url = https://www.idnes.cz/kultura/divadlo/olga-haasova-smrckova-smrt-zemrela.A221213_091550_divadlo_ts
| date = 2022-12-13
| language = cs
| access-date = 2024-01-05
}}</ref>

== Political activism and professional career ==
His expulsion from the Communist party was described by [[Jan Trefulka]] in his novella ''Pršelo jim štěstí'' (''Luck Rained on Them'', 1962).<ref name="gale" /> Kundera also used the expulsion as an inspiration for the main theme of his novel ''Žert'' (''[[The Joke (novel)|The Joke]]'', 1967),<ref name="gale" /> in which he ridiculed the ruling Communist party.<ref name="Kimball-1986" /> In 1956 Kundera was readmitted to the party but was expelled for a second time in 1970.<ref name="amoureux">{{in lang|fr}} Clavel, André, "[http://www.lexpress.fr/informations/l-intransigeant-amoureux-de-la-france_651114.html "L'intransigeant amoureux de la France"]" ''[[L'Express]]'', 3 April 2003</ref><ref name="home">{{in lang|en}} Kramer, Jane, "[https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/05/17/specials/kundera-home.html When there is no word for 'home']{{-"}}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', 29 April 1984</ref> He took part in the Fourth Congress of the Czech Writers union in June 1967, where he delivered an impressive speech.<ref name="Sabatos-2008">{{Cite journal |last=Sabatos |first=Charles |year=2008 |title=Criticism and Destiny: Kundera and Havel on the Legacy of 1968 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20451662 |journal=Europe-Asia Studies |volume=60 |issue=10 |pages=1829–1830 |doi=10.1080/09668130802434711 |jstor=20451662 |s2cid=154092932 |issn=0966-8136|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In the speech he focused on the Czech effort to maintain a certain cultural independence among its larger European neighbours.<ref name="Sabatos-2008" /> Along with other reformist Communist writers such as [[Pavel Kohout]], he was peripherally involved in the 1968 [[Prague Spring]]. This brief period of reformist activities was crushed by the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Kundera remained committed to reforming Czechoslovak Communism, and argued vehemently in print with fellow Czech writer [[Václav Havel]], saying, essentially, that everyone should remain calm and that "nobody is being locked up for his opinions yet," and "the significance of the Prague Autumn may ultimately be greater than that of the Prague Spring." In 1968, the year his books were banned by the Czech Government, he made his first journey to Paris, where he befriended the publisher [[Claude Gallimard]].<ref name="amoureux" /> After he returned to Prague, he was frequently visited by Gallimard who encouraged Kundera to emigrate to France and also smuggled the manuscript for ''[[Life Is Elsewhere]]'' out of Czechoslovakia.<ref name="amoureux" /> Finally, Kundera gave in and moved to France in 1975.<ref name="amoureux" /> In 1979, his Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked.<ref name="Duffield-2023" /> He lectured for a few years at the [[University of Rennes 2 - Upper Brittany|University of Rennes]].<ref name="amoureux" /><ref name="home" /> After three years, he moved to Paris.<ref name="amoureux" />

==Works==
Although his early poetic works are staunchly pro-communist,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/3806/ |title=Man, a wide garden: Milan Kundera as a young Stalinist – Enlighten |date=12 April 2013 |publisher=University of Glasgow |access-date=19 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/3806/1/Milan_Kundera.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/3806/1/Milan_Kundera.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |title=Man, a wide garden: Milan Kundera as a young Stalinist |last=Jan Culik |date=January 2007 |publisher=University of Glasgow |access-date=19 November 2013}}</ref> his novels escape ideological classification. Kundera repeatedly insisted that he was a novelist rather than a politically motivated writer. Political commentary all but disappeared from his novels after the publication of ''[[The Unbearable Lightness of Being]]'' except in relation to broader philosophical themes. Kundera's style of fiction, interlaced with philosophical digression, was greatly inspired by the novels of [[Robert Musil]] and the [[philosophy of Nietzsche]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/personal/reading/kundera-unbearable.html |title=Kundera Milan: The Unbearable Lightness of Being |publisher=Webster.edu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105080909/http://www2.webster.edu/~corbetre/personal/reading/kundera-unbearable.html |archive-date=5 November 2013 |access-date=2013-11-19}}</ref> In 1945 the journal ''Gong'' published his translation of some of the works from the Russian poet [[Vladimir Mayakovsky|Vladimir Majakovsky]].<ref name="gale" /> The next year the journal ''Mladé archy'' printed a poem of his, to which he was inspired by his cousin [[Ludvík Kundera]], also a writer.<ref name="gale" />

In the mid-1950s he was readmitted to the Communist party and he was able to publish ''Manː A Wide Garden'' in 1953, a long epic poem in 1955 called ''The Last May'' dedicated to [[Julius Fučík (journalist)|Julius Fucik]] and the collection of lyrical poetry ''Monologue'' in 1957.<ref name="Boyer-Weinmann-2023" /> Those, together with other fore and afterwords are deemed to be written in the fashion of uncontroversial propaganda which allowed him to benefit to a certain degree from the advantages that came with being an established writer in a Communist environment.<ref name="Boyer-Weinmann-2023" /> In 1962 he wrote the play ''The Owners of the Keys,'' which became an international success and was translated into several languages.<ref name="Boyer-Weinmann-2023" /> Kundera himself claimed inspiration from [[Renaissance]] authors such as [[Giovanni Boccaccio]], [[Rabelais]] and, perhaps most importantly, [[Miguel de Cervantes]], to whose legacy he considered himself most committed. Other influences include [[Laurence Sterne]], [[Henry Fielding]], [[Denis Diderot]], [[Robert Musil]], [[Witold Gombrowicz]], [[Hermann Broch]], [[Franz Kafka]], [[Martin Heidegger]] and [[Georges Bataille]].<ref name="kafka">{{Cite book |last=Škop |first=Martin |year=2011 |title=Milan Kundera and Franz Kafka – How not to Forget the Everydayness |url=https://www.muni.cz/en/research/publications/964314 |publisher=Masaryk University}}</ref> Originally he wrote in the Czech language, but from 1985 onwards, he made a conscious transition from Czech towards the French which has since become the reference language for his translations.<ref name="Boyer-Weinmann-2023" /> Between 1985 and 1987, he undertook the revision of the French translations of his earlier works himself. With ''Slowness'' his first work in French was published in 1995.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jones |first=Tim |year=2009 |title=Milan Kundera's Slowness – Making It Slow |journal=Review of European Studies |volume=1 |issue=2 |page=64 |doi=10.5539/RES.V1N2P64 |s2cid=53477512 |doi-access=free }}</ref> His works were translated into more than eighty languages.<ref name="Boyer-Weinmann-2023" />

===''The Joke''===
{{Main|The Joke (novel){{!}}''The Joke'' (novel)}}
In his first novel, ''The Joke'' (1967), he satirized the [[totalitarianism]] of the Communist era.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Howe |first1=Irving |title=Red Rulers and Black Humor |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/05/17/specials/kundera-joke.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref> Following the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, the book was banned.<ref name="Kimball-1986" /> His criticism of the Soviet invasion in 1968 led to his [[blacklist]]ing<ref name="gale" /> in Czechoslovakia and the [[ban (law)|banning]]<ref name="Hereford Times-2023">{{cite web |title=Czech writer and former dissident Milan Kundera dies in Paris aged 94 |url=https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/national/23649954.czech-writer-former-dissident-milan-kundera-dies-paris-aged-94/ |website=Hereford Times |date=12 July 2023 |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref> of his books.

===''Life Is Elsewhere''===
{{Main|Life Is Elsewhere{{!}}''Life Is Elsewhere''}}
Kundera's second novel was first published in French as ''[[Life Is Elsewhere|La vie est ailleurs]]'' in 1973 and in Czech as {{Lang|cs|[[Život je jinde]]}} in 1979. ''Life Is Elsewhere'' is a satirical portrait of the fictional poet Jaromil, a young and very naïve idealist who becomes involved in political scandals.<ref name="Theroux-1974">{{cite news |last1=Theroux |first1=Paul |title=Life Is Elsewhere |work=The New York Times |date=28 July 1974 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/28/archives/life-is-elsewhere-laughable-loves.html |access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref> For the novel Kundera was awarded the [[Prix Médicis]] the same year.<ref name="Sanders-1991">{{Cite journal |last=Sanders |first=Ivan |year=1991 |title=Mr. Kundera, the European |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40258623 |journal=The Wilson Quarterly |volume=15 |issue=2 |page=104 |jstor=40258623 |issn=0363-3276}}</ref>

===''The Book of Laughter and Forgetting''===
{{Main|The Book of Laughter and Forgetting{{!}}''The Book of Laughter and Forgetting''}}
In 1975, Kundera moved to France where ''[[The Book of Laughter and Forgetting]]'' was published in 1979.<ref name="Boyer-Weinmann-2023" /> An unusual mixture of novel, short story collection, and authorial musings which came to characterize his works in exile, the book dealt with how Czechs opposed the [[Communist regime]] in various ways. Critics noted that the Czechoslovakia Kundera portrays "is, thanks to the latest political redefinitions, no longer precisely there," which is the "kind of disappearance and reappearance" Kundera ironically explores in the book.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/240976.The_Book_of_Laughter_and_Forgetting |title=The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera – Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists |series=Perennial Classics |date=1999 |publisher=Goodreads.com |isbn=978-0-06-093214-5 |access-date=2013-11-19}}</ref>

===''The Unbearable Lightness of Being''===
{{Main|The Unbearable Lightness of Being{{!}}''The Unbearable Lightness of Being''}}
Kundera's most famous work, ''[[The Unbearable Lightness of Being]]'', was published in 1984. The book chronicles the fragile nature of an individual's fate, theorizing that a single lifetime is insignificant in the scope of [[Nietzsche]]'s concept of [[eternal return#Friedrich Nietzsche|eternal return]]. In an infinite universe, everything is guaranteed to recur infinitely. In 1988, American director [[Philip Kaufman]] released a [[The Unbearable Lightness of Being (film)|film adaptation]], which Kundera disliked.<ref name="Duffield-2023" /> The book focuses on the life of a Czech dissident surgeon's journey from Prague to Zurich and his return to Prague, where he was not permitted to take up work as a surgeon.<ref name="Hereford Times-2023" /> He worked instead as a window washer and used his job to arrange sex with hundreds of women.<ref name="Hereford Times-2023" /> At the end he and his wife move to the country.<ref name="Hereford Times-2023" /> The book was not published in Czechoslovakia due to Kundera's fear it would be badly edited. He eventually delayed the publishing date for years and only in 2006 would an official translation be available in the Czech language.<ref name="Hereford Times-2023" /> The book had already been available in Czech, having been translated in 1985 by a Czech expatriate in Canada.<ref name="Hereford Times-2023" />

===''Ignorance''===
{{Main|Ignorance (novel){{!}}''Ignorance'' (novel)}}
In 2000, ''[[Ignorance (novel)|Ignorance]]'' was published. The novel centres on the romance of two alienated Czech émigrés, two decades after the [[Prague Spring]] of 1968. It is thematically concerned with the suffering of emigration. In it, Kundera undermines the myths surrounding nostalgia and the émigré's longing for return. He concludes that in the "etymological light nostalgia seems something like the pain of ignorance, of not knowing." Kundera suggests a complex relationship between memory and nostalgia, writing that our memory can "create rifts both with our earlier selves and between people who ostensibly share a past." The main characters of Irena and Josef discover how emigration and forgetfulness have ultimately freed them from their pain. Kundera draws heavily from the myth of [[Odysseus]], specifically the "mythology of home, the delusions of roots."<ref name="Hron-2007">{{cite journal | last=Hron | first=Madelaine | title=The Czech Émigré Experience of Return after 1989: The great return: the pain of ignorance | journal=[[The Slavonic and East European Review]] | publisher=Modern Humanities Research Association | volume=85 | issue=1 | year=2007 | issn=0037-6795 | jstor=4214394 | pages=72–76 | doi=10.1353/see.2007.0104 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4214394 | access-date=14 July 2023| url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Jaggi|first=Maya|author-link=Maya Jaggi|date=15 November 2002|title=Czech mate|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/nov/16/fiction.milankundera|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=13 July 2023}}</ref> Linda Asher translated the original French version of the novel to English in 2002.<ref>{{cite news|last=Howard|first=Maureen|author-link=Maureen Howard|date=6 October 2002|title=Shut Up, Memory|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/06/books/shut-up-memory.html|url-status=live|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200118194923/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/06/books/shut-up-memory.html|archive-date=18 January 2020|access-date=14 July 2023|url-access=limited}}</ref>

=== ''The Festival of Insignificance'' ===
{{Main|The Festival of Insignificance{{!}}''The Festival of Insignificance''}}
The 2014 novel focuses on the musings of four male friends living in Paris who discuss their relationships with women and the existential predicament confronting individuals in the world, among other things. The novel received generally negative reviews. [[Michiko Kakutani]] of the ''New York Times'' describes the book as being a "knowing, pre-emptive joke about its own superficiality".<ref name="Kakutani-2015">{{Cite news |last=Kakutani |first=Michiko |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/15/books/review-milan-kunderas-the-festival-of-insignificance-is-full-of-pranks-lies-and-vanity.html |title=Review: Milan Kundera's 'The Festival of Insignificance' Is Full of Pranks, Lies and Vanity |date=2015-06-14 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2015-12-29 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> A review in the ''Economist'' stated that the book was "sadly let down by a tone of breezy satire that can feel forced".<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21654001-czech-novelist-has-published-what-could-be-his-last-book-unbearable-lightness?zid=319&ah=17af09b0281b01505c226b1e574f5cc1 |title=Unbearable lightness |newspaper=The Economist|access-date=2015-12-29 |issn=0013-0613}}</ref>

==Writing style and philosophy==
[[François Ricard]] suggested that Kundera conceived his fiction with regard to the overall body of his work, rather than limiting his ideas to the scope of just one novel at a time, his themes and meta-themes traversing his entire œuvre. Each new book manifests the latest stage of his personal philosophy. Some of these meta-themes include exile, identity, life beyond the border (beyond love, beyond art, beyond seriousness), history as a continual return, and the pleasure of a less "important" life.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ricard |first1=François |title=Le dernier après-midi d'Agnès: essai sur l'œuvre de Milan Kundera |last2=Kundera |first2=Milan |date=2003 |publisher=Gallimard |isbn=978-2-07-073024-7 |series=Arcades |location=Paris}}</ref>{{verify source|date=July 2023}}

Many of Kundera's characters seem to develop as expositions of one of these themes at the expense of their full humanity. Specifics in regard to the characters tend to be rather vague. Often, more than one main character is used in a novel; Kundera may have even completely discontinued a character, resuming the plot with somebody new. As he told [[Philip Roth]] in an interview in ''[[The Village Voice]]'': "Intimate life [is] understood as one's personal secret, as something valuable, inviolable, the basis of one's originality".<ref>Contemporary Authors Online, Thomson Gale, 2007{{Citation needed|date=November 2007}}</ref>

Kundera's early novels explore the dual [[tragic]] and [[comedy (drama)|comic]] aspects of [[totalitarianism]]. He did not view his works, however, as political commentary. "The condemnation of totalitarianism doesn't deserve a novel", he said. According to the Mexican novelist [[Carlos Fuentes]], "What he finds interesting is the similarity between [[totalitarianism]] and the immemorial and fascinating dream of a harmonious society where private life and public life form but one unity and all are united around one will and one faith". In exploring the dark humour of this topic, Kundera seems deeply influenced by [[Franz Kafka]].<ref name=kafka/>

Kundera considered himself a writer without a message. In ''Sixty-three Words,'' a chapter in ''[[The Art of the Novel]]'', Kundera tells of a Scandinavian publisher who hesitated to publish ''The Farewell Party'' because of its apparent anti-abortion message. Not only was the publisher wrong about the existence of such a message, Kundera explained, but, "I was delighted with the misunderstanding. I had succeeded as a novelist. I succeeded in maintaining the moral ambiguity of the situation. I had kept faith with the essence of the novel as an art: irony. And irony doesn't give a damn about messages!".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kundera |first=Milan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/05/17/specials/kundera-words.html |title=Key Words, Problem Words, Words I love |date=6 March 1988 |work=The New York Times |access-date=13 November 2010}}</ref>

Kundera also ventured often into musical matters, analyzing [[Czech folk music]] for example; or quoting from [[Leoš Janáček]] and [[Bartók]]; or placing musical excerpts into the text, as in ''The Joke'';<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beckerman |first1=Michael |title=Retuning Culture |chapter=Kundera's Musical Joke and 'Folk' Music in Czechoslovakia, 1948–? |date=1996 |publisher=Duke University Press |pages=39–40 |doi=10.1515/9780822397885-003 |isbn=9780822397885 |s2cid=242196564 |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822397885-003 |access-date=14 July 2023}}</ref> or discussing Schoenberg and [[atonality]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Benson |first1=Stephen |title=For Want of a Better Term?: Polyphony and the Value of Music in Bakhtin and Kundera. |journal=Narrative |year=2003 |volume=11 |issue=3 |page=304 |doi=10.1353/nar.2003.0013 |jstor=20107320 |s2cid=144073112 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20107320 |access-date=14 July 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Miroslav Dvořáček controversy==
On 13 October 2008, the Czech weekly ''[[Respekt]]'' reported that an investigation was being carried out by the state-funded historical archive and research [[Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ustrcr.cz/en |title=The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes |date=2013-05-15 |publisher=Ustrcr.cz |language=cs |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131126102557/http://www.ustrcr.cz/en |archive-date=26 November 2013 |access-date=2013-11-19}}</ref> into whether a young Kundera had denounced a returned defector, Miroslav Dvořáček, to the [[StB]], or Czechoslovak [[secret police]], in 1950.<ref name="respekt">{{Cite web |url=http://english.respekt.cz/Milan-Kunderas-denunciation-2742.html |title=Milan Kundera's denunciation |date=13 October 2008 |website=[[Respekt]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014003849/http://english.respekt.cz/Milan-Kunderas-denunciation-2742.html |archive-date=14 October 2008}}</ref> The accusation was based on a police station report which named "Milan Kundera, student, born 1.4.1929" as the informant in regard to Dvořáček's presence at a student dormitory.<ref name="Čulík-2020">{{Cite web |last=Čulík |first=Jan |year=2020 |title=Was Milan Kundera a Bastard? |url=https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/223437/2/223437.pdf |website=[[University of Glasgow]]}}</ref> But the report did not include his ID card number, which was usually included, nor his signature.<ref name="Čulík-2020" /> According to the police report, the ultimate source of the information about Dvořáček's previous desertion from military service and defection to the West was Iva Militká.<ref name="respekt" />

Dvořáček had allegedly fled Czechoslovakia after being ordered to join the infantry in the wake of a purge of the flight academy, and returned to Czechoslovakia as an agent of an [[anti-communist]] espionage agency organised by Czechoslovak exiles, an allegation which was not mentioned in the police report.<ref name="respekt" /> Dvořáček returned secretly to the student dormitory of a friend's ex-girlfriend, Iva Militká. Militká was dating and later married a fellow student, Ivan Dlask, who knew Kundera.<ref name="respekt" /> The police report alleges that Militká told Dlask of Dvořáček's presence, and that Dlask told Kundera, who told the secret police.<ref name="respekt" /> Although the prosecutor sought the death penalty, Dvořáček was sentenced to 22 years of hard labour, fined 10,000 [[Czechoslovak koruna|crowns]], stripped of personal property, and deprived of his civic rights for ten years.<ref name="respekt" /> Dvořáček served 14 years in a [[labor camp]], some of it working in a [[uranium]] mine, before he was released.<ref name="times">{{cite web |last1=Pancevski |first1=Bojan |title=Milan Kundera denies spy tip-off claims |url=https://www.thetimes.com/best-law-firms/profile-legal/article/milan-kundera-denies-spy-tip-off-claims-67p2jgzn3gw |website=[[The Times]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211125020816/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/milan-kundera-denies-spy-tip-off-claims-67p2jgzn3gw |archive-date=2021-11-25 |location=Vienna |date=2008-10-14 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In his response to ''Respekt''{{'}}s announcement, Kundera denied turning Dvořáček into the StB,<ref name="times" /> stating he never knew him at all, and could not even remember an individual named "Militká".<ref>[http://video.respekt.cz/Kundera-Je-to-nefer-2767.html] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081017084437/http://video.respekt.cz/Kundera-Je-to-nefer-2767.html|date=17 October 2008}}</ref> On 14 October 2008, the Czech Security Forces Archive announced that they had ruled out the possibility that the document could be a forgery, but refused to arrive at any other definite conclusions.<ref name="ctk">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/index_view.php?id=338644|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150103005213/http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/index_view.php?id=338644|url-status=dead|title=||archivedate=3 January 2015|website=ceskenoviny.cz}}</ref> Vojtech Ripka of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes said, "There are two pieces of circumstantial evidence [the police report and its sub-file], but we, of course, cannot be one hundred percent sure. Unless we find all survivors, which is unfortunately impossible, it will not be complete." Ripka added that the signature on the police report matches the name of a man who worked in the corresponding National Security Corps section and that a police protocol is missing.<ref name="ctk" />

Many in the Czech Republic condemned Kundera as a "police informer", while many others accused ''Respekt'' of committing journalistic misconduct by publishing such a poorly researched piece. On the other hand, presenting an ID card was a procedure whenever dealing with the StB in 1950. Kundera was the student representative of the dorm Dvořáček had visited, and while it cannot be ruled out that another student could have denounced him to the StB using Kundera's name,<ref name="Čulík-2020" /> impersonating someone else in a [[Stalinist]] [[police state]] posed a significant risk. Contradictory statements by Kundera's fellow students appeared in the Czech news media in the wake of this scandal. Historian Adam Hradílek, the co-author of the ''Respekt'' article, was also accused of an undeclared conflict of interest since one of the individuals involved in the incident was his aunt.<ref name="Čulík-2020" /> Nonetheless, ''Respekt'' states on its website that its task is to "impartially study the crimes of the former communist regime".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ustrcr.cz/ |title=Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů |date=15 November 2013 |publisher=Ustrcr.cz |language=cs |access-date=19 November 2013}}</ref> With time, the Western journalists realized the whole controversy was flawed, with French newspapers defending Kundera.<ref name="Čulík-2020" /> The literary scholar Karen de Kunes investigated the reports and came to the conclusion that even if Kundera had issued the report, all he reported was the existence of a suitcase in the hallway.<ref name="Čulík-2020" />

On 3 November 2008, eleven internationally recognized writers came to Kundera's defence, including four Nobel laureates, [[Orhan Pamuk]], [[Gabriel García Márquez]], [[Nadine Gordimer]] and [[J. M. Coetzee]], as well as [[Carlos Fuentes]], [[Juan Goytisolo]], [[Philip Roth]], [[Salman Rushdie]], and [[Jorge Semprún]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Coetzee |first=J. M. |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/nov/04/milankundera-nobel-prize-literature |title=Support Milan Kundera |date=4 November 2008 |work=The Guardian |access-date=23 August 2010 |location=London}}</ref>

==Awards and honours==
In 1973, ''[[Life Is Elsewhere]]'' received the French [[Prix Médicis]].<ref name="Sanders-1991" /> In 1979 Kundera was awarded the [[Mondello Prize]] for [[The Farewell Waltz|The Farewell Party]].<ref name="Kuhlman-2001">{{Cite journal |last=Kuhlman |first=Martha |year=2001 |title=Images of the Crowd in Milan Kundera's Novels: From Communist Prague to Postmodern France |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44367083 |journal=The Comparatist |volume=25 |page=92 |jstor=44367083 |issn=0195-7678}}</ref> In 1985, Kundera received the [[Jerusalem Prize]].<ref name="Ivry-2023" /> His acceptance address appears among the essays collected in ''[[The Art of the Novel]]''. He won [[The Austrian State Prize for European Literature]] in 1987. In 2000, he was awarded the international [[Herder Prize]]. In 2007, he was awarded the Czech State Literature Prize.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.eux.tv/article.aspx?articleId=16216 |title=Czechs 'to honour Kundera', the writer they love to hate |work=eux.tv |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227174546/http://www.eux.tv/article.aspx?articleId=16216 |archive-date=27 December 2007}}</ref> In 2009, he was awarded the [[Prix mondial Cino Del Duca]]. In 2010, he was made an honorary citizen of his hometown, Brno.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/zpravy/kundera-becomes-honorary-citizen-of-native-city-brno/411101 |title=Kundera becomes honorary citizen of native city Brno |date=8 December 2009 |work=České Noviny News |access-date=8 December 2009}}</ref> When he died the Greek Newspaper ''Efimerida ton Syntakton'' (''Journal of the editors'') published a special section where all the current affairs on each page were described with a book title of Kundera's.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.efsyn.gr/milan-koyntera|title=Μιλάν Κούντερα|website=Η Εφημερίδα των Συντακτών|access-date=20 July 2023|archive-date=20 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230720210654/https://www.efsyn.gr/milan-koyntera|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2011, he received the [[Ovid Prize]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.nineoclock.ro/milan-kundera-and-ognjen-spahic-awarded-at-%E2%80%9Cdays-and-nights-of-literature%E2%80%9D-festival/#hide |title=Milan Kundera and Ognjen Spahic awarded at Days and Nights of Literature Festival |date=14 June 2011 |work=nineoclock.ro |access-date=14 June 2011}}</ref> The asteroid [[7390 Kundera]], discovered at the [[Kleť Observatory]] in 1983, is named in his honour.<ref name="Schmadel">{{Cite book |last1=Schmadel |first1=Lutz D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KWrB1jPCa8AC&pg=PA594 |title=Dictionary of minor planet names |last2=International Astronomical Union |publisher=Springer-Verlag |year=2003 |isbn=978-3-540-00238-3 |location=Berlin; New York |page=594 |author-link=Lutz D. Schmadel |access-date=29 July 2012}}</ref> In 2020, he was awarded the [[Franz Kafka Prize]], a Czech literary award.<ref>{{cite web |author=Alison Flood |title=Milan Kundera 'joyfully' accepts Czech Republic's Franz Kafka prize |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/22/milan-kundera-joyfully-accepts-czech-republics-franz-kafka-prize |website=The Guardian |language=en |date=22 September 2020}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Stripped of Czechoslovak citizenship in 1979, Kundera became a French citizen in 1981.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1929-04-01 |title=Biography Milan Kunder |url=http://www.kundera.de/english/Biography/biography.html |access-date=19 November 2013 |publisher=Kundera.de}}</ref> He maintained contact with Czech and Slovak friends in his homeland,<ref name="skips_hometown_conference">{{Cite news |date=30 May 2009 |title=Milan Kundera skips hometown conference on his work |publisher=CBC News |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/milan-kundera-skips-hometown-conference-on-his-work-1.802373 |access-date=30 May 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090601205527/http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2009/05/30/kundera-czech-conference.html |archive-date=1 June 2009}}</ref> but rarely returned and never with any fanfare.<ref name="kundera_rejects" /> He was granted Czech citizenship in 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.novinky.cz/domaci/clanek/milan-kundera-ma-po-40-letech-opet-ceske-obcanstvi-40305688 |title=Milan Kundera má po 40 letech opět české občanství |website=novinky.cz |date=3 December 2019 |access-date=2019-12-03}}</ref> He saw himself as a French writer and insisted his work should be studied as [[French literature]] and classified as such in bookstores.<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 May 2009 |title=Milan Kundera skips hometown conference on his work |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/milan-kundera-skips-hometown-conference-on-his-work-1.802373 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090601205527/http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2009/05/30/kundera-czech-conference.html |archive-date=1 June 2009 |access-date=3 December 2019 |publisher=CBC News}}</ref>

Kundera was married twice. His first wife was the singer Olga Haasová-Smrčková (1937–2022), daughter of composer [[Pavel Haas]],<ref name="Ivry-2023"/> whom he married in 1956.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-12-12 |title=Zemřela Olga Haasová-Smrčková |url=https://www.divadelni-noviny.cz/zemrela-olga-haasova-smrckova |access-date=2024-09-14 |website=Divadelní noviny |language=cs}}</ref> His second marriage was to Věra Hrabánková (1935–2024),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-09-14 |title=Zemřela Věra Kunderová |url=https://www.seznamzpravy.cz/clanek/zahranicni-zemrela-vera-kunderova-259931 |access-date=2024-09-14 |website=Seznam Zprávy |language=cs |agency=ČTK}}</ref> whom he married in 1967.<ref name="Darlingberg-2023">{{Cite web |last=Darlingberg |first=Dwomoh |date=2023-07-12 |title=Milan Kundera's Married Wife and Children: Meet The Author's Partner Věra Hrabánková and Kids |url=https://thedistin.com/2023/07/12/milan-kunderas-married-wife-and-children-meet-the-authors-partner-vera-hrabankova-and-kids/ |access-date=2023-07-14 |website=Thedistin |language=en}}</ref> Vera reportedly was his secretary, translator of his works and the gatekeeper between Kundera and the outside world.<ref name="Darlingberg-2023" />

Kundera died after a prolonged illness, in Paris on 11 July 2023, at the age of 94.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lewis |first1=Daniel |date=July 13, 2023 |title='Unbearable Lightness' Author Gave Comical Flair to Despair |volume=172 |pages=A1, A20 |work=The New York Times |issue=59848 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/12/world/europe/milan-kundera-dead.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Presse |first=AFP-Agence France |title=Czech Writer Milan Kundera Dies At 94 |url=https://www.barrons.com/news/czech-writer-milan-kundera-dies-at-94-a70ebc9a |access-date=2023-07-12 |website=barrons.com |language=en-US}}</ref> He was cremated in Paris on 19 July 2023.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2023-07-19|title=Spisovatel Kundera měl kremaci v Paříži. Uvažuje se o jeho pohřbení v Brně|url=https://www.idnes.cz/kultura/literatura/milan-kundera-spisovatel-pariz-francie-kremace.A230719_181804_domaci_itimp|access-date=2023-07-19|website=Mladá fronta DNES|language=cs}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
{{Incomplete list|date=July 2015}}

===Novels===
* ''[[The Joke (novel)|The Joke]] (Žert)'' (1967)<ref name="Kimball-1986" />
* ''[[Life Is Elsewhere]]'' ({{Lang|cs|Život je jinde}}) (1969)<ref name="Theroux-1974" />
* ''[[The Farewell Waltz]]'' ({{Lang|cs|Valčík na rozloučenou}}) (Original translation title: ''The Farewell Party'') (French version "{{Lang|fr|La Valse aux Adieux}}") (1972)<ref name="Kuhlman-2001" />
* ''[[The Book of Laughter and Forgetting]]'' ({{Lang|cs|Kniha smíchu a zapomnění}}) (1979)<ref name="Boyer-Weinmann-2023" />
* ''[[The Unbearable Lightness of Being]] (Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí)'' (1984)<ref name="Hereford Times-2023" />
* ''[[Immortality (novel)|Immortality]]'' ''(Nesmrtelnost)'' (1988)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The New York Times: Book Review Search Article |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/05/17/specials/kundera-immortality.html?_r=1&oref=slogin |access-date=2023-07-16 |website=The New York Times}}</ref>
* ''[[Slowness (novel)|Slowness]] (La Lenteur)'' (1995)<ref name="Boyer-Weinmann-2023" />
* ''[[Identity (novel)|Identity]] (L'Identité)'' (1998)<ref name="Kuhlman-2001" />
* ''[[Ignorance (novel)|Ignorance]] (L'Ignorance)'' (2000)<ref name="Hron-2007" />
* ''[[The Festival of Insignificance]]'' (''La fête de l'insignifiance'') (2014)<ref name="Kakutani-2015" />

===Short fiction===

====Collections====
* ''[[Laughable Loves]]'' ''(Směšné lásky)'' (1969)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Iggers |first=Wilma |year=1976 |title=Review of Laughable Loves; The Guinea Pigs |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/305836 |journal=The Slavic and East European Journal |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=200–202 |doi=10.2307/305836 |jstor=305836 |issn=0037-6752|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

====Stories====
* ''The Apologizer'' (2015)<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Kundera |first=Milan |date=4 May 2015 |others=(trans) Linda Asher |title=The Apologizer |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/04/the-apologizer |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |volume=91 |issue=11 |pages=56–64 |access-date=2015-07-02}}</ref>

===Poetry collections===
* ''Člověk zahrada širá'' (Man: A Wide Garden) (1953)<ref name="Boyer-Weinmann-2023" />
* ''Poslední máj'' (The Last May) (1955) – celebration of [[Julius Fučík (journalist)|Julius Fučík]]<ref name="Boyer-Weinmann-2023" />
* ''Monology'' (Monologues) (1957)<ref name="Boyer-Weinmann-2023" />

===Essays===
* ''Český úděl'' (The Czech Deal) in ''Listy'' (December 1968)<ref>Sabatos, Charles (2008). p.1831</ref>
* ''Radikalizmus a expozice'' (Radicalism and Exhibitionism) (1969)<ref>{{cite news |title=The Debate That Won't Die: Havel And Kundera On Whether Protest Is Worthwhile |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/debate_that_wont_die_havel_and_kundera_on_whether_protest_is_worthwhile/24448679.html |access-date=15 July 2023 |publisher=Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty |date=11 January 2012}}</ref>
* ''[[The Art of the Novel]]'' (''L'art du Roman'') (1986)<ref name="bnf">{{cite web |last1=Bibliothèque Nationale de France |title=Milan Kundera, lauréat 2012 du prix de la BNF |url=https://www.bnf.fr/sites/default/files/2018-11/bibliographie%20Kundera%20version%20web.pdf |website=bnf.fr |access-date=15 July 2023 |date=June 2012}}</ref>
* ''Testaments Betrayed: An Essay in Nine Parts'' (''Les testaments trahis: essai'') (1993)<ref name="bnf" />
* ''D'en bas tu humeras les roses'' – rare book in French, illustrated by Ernest Breleur (1993)<ref name="bnf" />
* ''[[The Curtain (essay)|The Curtain]]'' (''Le Rideau'') (2005)<ref>{{cite news |last1=Banks |first1=Russell |title=Reading With Kundera |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/books/review/Banks.t.html |access-date=15 July 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=4 March 2007}}</ref>
* ''[[Encounter: Essays]]'' (''Une rencontre'') (2009)<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dyer |first1=Geoff |title=Encounter: Essays by Milan Kundera |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/aug/22/encounter-essays-review |access-date=15 July 2023 |publisher=The Guardian / The Observer |date=22 August 2010}}</ref>

===Drama===
* ''Majitelé klíčů'' (The Owners of the Keys) (1962)<ref name="Boyer-Weinmann-2023" /><ref name="Jungmannova-2022">{{Cite journal |last=Jungmannova |first=Lenka |year=2024 |title=Unsigned play by Milan Kundera? An authorship attribution study |journal=Digital Scholarship in the Humanities |volume=39 |pages=191–197 |doi=10.1093/llc/fqad109 |arxiv=2212.09879 }}</ref>
* ''Ptákovina'' ([[The Blunder]]) (1969)<ref name="Jungmannova-2022" />
* ''[[Jacques and His Master]]''<ref name="Jungmannova-2022" />(''Jakub a jeho pán: Pocta Denisu Diderotovi'') (1981)

===Articles===
* ''What is a novelist'' (2006)<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Kundera |first=Milan |date=9 October 2006 |title=What is a novelist |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/10/09/what-is-a-novelist |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |pages=40–45 |access-date=2019-09-19}}</ref>
* ''Die Weltliteratur'' (2007)<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Kundera |first=Milan |date=8 January 2007 |others=(trans) Linda Asher |title=Die Weltliteratur |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/01/08/die-weltliteratur |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |access-date=2019-09-19}}</ref>

===Non-fiction===
* ''A Kidnapped West: The Tragedy of Central Europe'' (2023)<ref>{{cite web |last1=European Parliament |title=Un Occident kidnappé, ou La tragédie de l'Europe centrale |url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/100books/en/detail/49/the-tragedy-of-central-europe?info=de |publisher=European Parliament |access-date=15 July 2023}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Leonidas Donskis. ''Yet Another Europe After 1984: Rethinking Milan Kundera and the Idea of Central Europe'' (Amsterdam Rodopi, 2012) 223 pp. {{ISBN|978-90-420-3543-0}}. [https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=39632 online review]
* Charles Sabatos. "Shifting Contexts: The Boundaries of Milan Kundera's Central Europe," in ''Contexts, Subtexts, and Pretexts: Literary Translation in Eastern Europe and Russia'', ed. Brian James Baer (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2011), pp. 19–31.
* Nicoletta Pireddu, "European Ulyssiads: Claudio Magris, Milan Kundera, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt," in ''Comparative Literature'', Special Issue "Odyssey, Exile, Return" Ed. by Michelle Zerba and Adelaide Russo, 67 (3), September 2015: pp. 67–86. {{JSTOR|24694591}}.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Milan Kundera}}
{{Wikiquote}}
'''Biographical'''
* {{IMDb name|0475081}}
* [http://www.prague-life.com/prague/milan-kundera Milan Kundera and the Czech Republic]. Retrieved 2010-09-25
* [https://www.nytimes.com/topic/person/milan-kundera "Milan Kundera" topic] in ''The New York Times''

'''Book reviews; interviews'''
* [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D07E1DC1F39F931A35757C0A962948260 Review]. The ''[[Unbearable Lightness of Being]]'' 2 April 1984 ''The New York Times''. Retrieved 2010-09-25
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/books/review/Banks.t.html 'Reading with Kundera' By Russell Banks 4 March 2007] ''The New York Times''. Retrieved 2010-09-25
* [http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/res/article/viewFile/4575/3909 Review] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718070349/http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/res/article/viewFile/4575/3909 |date=18 July 2011}} of ''[[Slowness (novel)|Slowness]]'' from ''The Review of European Studies''. Retrieved 2010-09-25
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100722081806/http://www.oxonianreview.org/wp/of-dogs-and-death/ "Of Dogs and Death"]}} A review of ''Une Recontre (An Encounter)'' 27 April 2009. ''The [[Oxonian Review]]''. Retrieved 2010-09-25
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010126095600/http://www.centerforbookculture.org/interviews/interview_kundera.html |date=26 January 2001 |title=Interview with Kundera}} ''The Review of Contemporary Fiction'', Summer 1989, 9.2. Retrieved 2010-09-25
* {{Cite journal |last=Christian Salmon |date=Summer 1984 |title=Milan Kundera, The Art of Fiction No. 81 |url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2977/the-art-of-fiction-no-81-milan-kundera |journal=The Paris Review |volume=Summer 1984 |issue=92}}

'''Open letters'''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111006231656/http://www.salon.eu.sk/article.php?article=732&searchPhrase=havel "Two Messages"]. Article by [[Václav Havel]] in ''Salon'' October 2008. Retrieved 2010-09-25
* [https://archive.today/20130113183921/http://www.salon.eu.sk/article.php?article=779&searchPhrase=t%C5%99e%C5%A1%C5%88%C3%A1k "The Flawed Defence"] Article by Petr Třešňák in ''Salon'' November 2008. Retrieved 2010-09-25
* [http://salon.eu.sk/en/archiv/728 "Informing und Terror"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404160636/http://salon.eu.sk/en/archiv/728 |date=4 April 2023 }} by Ivan Klíma, about the Kundera controversy ''Salon'' October 2008
* [https://archive.today/20130113190132/http://www.salon.eu.sk/article.php?article=749&searchPhrase=Str%C3%A1nsk%C3%BD Leprosy] by Jiří Stránský, about the Kundera controversy, ''Salon'' October 2008. Retrieved 2010-09-25

'''Archives'''
* [https://findingaids.library.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-rb/ldpd_4077729 Finding aid to Milan Kundera Manuscripts at Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

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|title=Awards received by Milan Kundera
|list1=
{{Mondello Prize}}
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Bajaj Pulsar

2025-11-01T05:45:52Z

2405:201:C00D:214A:A909:CEC5:B617:219E: /* Copy of Pulsar brand motorcycles */

{{Short description|Range of motorcycles manufactured by Bajaj Auto}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox Motorcycle
| image = Pulsar_220_new_model.jpg
|caption = A 2015 Bajaj Pulsar 220 model
| name= Bajaj Pulsar
| manufacturer = [[Bajaj Auto]]
| production = 2001–present
| class = [[Naked bike|Standard]], [[Sports Bike|Mini sport]]
| platform =
| engine = 125/135/150/160/180/200/220/250/400 cc [[air cooling|Air-cooled/oil-cooled/liquid cooled]], [[Four-stroke engine]], 2-4 [[Poppet valve|valve]], [[SOHC]], [[thumper (motorcycle)|single piston]], [[kick start]] / [[Electric starter|electric start]]
}}

The '''Bajaj Pulsar''' is a range of [[motorcycle]]s manufactured by [[Bajaj Auto]] in India. It was developed by the product engineering division of Bajaj Auto in association with [[Tokyo]] R&D,<ref name=tokyornd>[http://www.sae.org/automag/globalvehicles/02-2002/page4.htm Asian technological entrepreneur] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930201733/http://www.sae.org/automag/globalvehicles/02-2002/page4.htm |date=30 September 2007 }}. Sae.org. Retrieved on 2012-05-21.</ref> and later with motorcycle designer [[Glynn Kerr]]. A variant of the bike, the Pulsar 200NS was launched in 2012, but it was suspended for some time (reintroduced in early 2017 with [[Bharat stage emission standards|BS IV Emission]] compliance and renamed the NS200).<ref name="nepal.globalbajaj.com">{{Cite web|url=https://nepal.globalbajaj.com/en/brands/pulsar/pulsar-ns-200-abs/|title = Pulsar Ns200 Abs}}</ref> With average monthly sales of around 86,000 units in 2011, Pulsar claimed a 2011 market share of 47% in its segment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bajajauto.com/images/investor/Results-20th-October-2011.pdf|title=Bajaj Presentation – September 2011|publisher=[[Bajaj Auto]]|access-date=2 February 2012|archive-date=31 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120131090725/http://www.bajajauto.com/images/investor/Results-20th-October-2011.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> By April 2012, more than five million units of Pulsar were sold.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bajajauto.com/press-release/PRESS-RELEASE-MAR-2012.pdf|title=Pulsar becomes a 5 million brand|publisher=[[Bajaj Auto]]|access-date=4 April 2012|archive-date=1 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201232226/http://www.bajajauto.com/press-release/PRESS-RELEASE-MAR-2012.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2018, the company celebrated selling over ten million Pulsar units - with an exclusive TV commercial and a marquee ride to in 6 cities to write "PULSAR" on a pre-defined route. The model is sold as '''Rouser''' in other markets, such as [[South America]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Rouser NS200 |url=https://www.globalbajaj.com/argentina/castellano/productos/motorcycles/rouser/rouser-ns-200/general/ |website=Global Bajaj |access-date=27 December 2022 |language=Spanish }}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Before the introduction of the Pulsar, the Indian motorcycle market trend was towards fuel efficient, small capacity motorcycles (that formed the 80–125 cc class). Bigger motorcycles with higher capacity virtually did not exist (except for [[Royal Enfield|Royal Enfield Bullet]] with 350cc and 500cc variants). The launch and success of [[Hero Honda CBZ]] in 1999 showed that there was demand for performance bikes. Bajaj took the cue from there on and launched the Pulsar twins (150cc and 180cc) in India on 24 November 2001.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.bsmotoring.com/oldsite/2001/01feb10_1.htm |title = Pulsar design |access-date = 2007-04-06 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061116175354/http://www.bsmotoring.com/oldsite/2001/01feb10_1.htm |archive-date = 16 November 2006 |df = dmy-all}}</ref> Since the introduction and success of Bajaj Pulsar, Indian youth began expecting high power and other features from affordable motorcycles.

The project faced internal resistance, reservations by [[McKinsey & Company]] and doubts on its effects on Bajaj's relation with [[Kawasaki Heavy Industries|Kawasaki]]. The project took approximately 36 months for completion and cost Bajaj {{INR}} 1 billion.<ref>[http://news.moneycontrol.com/india/news/smartmanager/rajivnayanrbajajbajajauto/howbajajautoispoweringahead/market/stocks/article/192370] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216001442/http://news.moneycontrol.com/india/news/smartmanager/rajivnayanrbajajbajajauto/howbajajautoispoweringahead/market/stocks/article/192370|date=16 December 2008}}</ref>

{{Listen|filename=Pulsar2.ogg|title=Pulsar-180 engine sound|description=The engine sound of a Pulsar 180 while running|format=[[Ogg]]}}

==Specifications==

{| class=wikitable
! Version
! Capacity (cc)
! Wheelbase (mm)
! Power (PS)
! Torque (Nm)
! Top speed (km/h)
|-
| Pulsar 125 DTS-i
| 125
| 1320
| 11.64
| 10.8
| 116

|-
| Pulsar 135LS DTS-i <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bajajauto.com/pulsar/Pulsar/p135_technical.html|title=Bajaj Pulsar 135 LS|publisher=[[Bajaj Auto]]|access-date=20 November 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122193423/http://www.bajajauto.com/pulsar/pulsar/p135_technical.html|archive-date=22 November 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
|135
| 1325
| 13.5
| 11.4
| 112<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bsmotoring.com/news/pulsar-135ls-reviewlightsporty/1458/2|title=Pulsar 135LS Review- Light and Sporty|newspaper=[[Business Standard]]|access-date=21 December 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091216061649/http://www.bsmotoring.com/news/pulsar-135ls-reviewlightsporty/1458/2| archive-date= 16 December 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref>
|-
| Pulsar 150 DTS-i <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bajajauto.com/pulsar/Pulsar/p150_technical.html|title=Bajaj Pulsar 150|publisher=[[Bajaj Auto]]|access-date=20 November 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117035356/http://www.bajajauto.com/pulsar/Pulsar/p150_technical.html|archive-date=17 November 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
|150
| 1320
| 14.0
| 13.6
| 110
|-125
| Pulsar 180 DTS-i <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bajajauto.com/pulsar/Pulsar/p180_technical.html|title=Bajaj Pulsar 180|publisher=[[Bajaj Auto]]|access-date=20 November 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123094114/http://www.bajajauto.com/pulsar/Pulsar/p180_technical.html|archive-date=23 November 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
|180
| 1350
| 17.3
| 15.1
| 118
|-
| Pulsar 200 DTS-i <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.premjis.com/asppages/moddets.asp?Model=Pulsar%20200&DetMode=techspecs|title=Bajaj Pulsar 200|publisher=[[premjis.com]]|access-date=20 November 2011|archive-date=29 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111129170912/http://premjis.com/asppages/moddets.asp?Model=Pulsar%20200&DetMode=techspecs|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|200
| 1345
| 19
| 17.68
| 118
|-
| Pulsar 220 DTSi-F
|220
| 1350
| 21
| 19
|144
|-
| Pulsar 220Fi DTS-i <ref name="bajajauto1">{{cite web|url=http://www.bajajauto.com/pulsar/Pulsar/p220_technical.html|title=Bajaj Pulsar 220|publisher=[[Bajaj Auto]]|access-date=20 November 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111045639/http://www.bajajauto.com/pulsar/Pulsar/p220_technical.html|archive-date=11 November 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
| 220
| 1350
| 21
| 19.12
| 141<ref>110{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Bike India]] |date=22 June 2009 |author=Anmol limje(Performance tester) |title=Road test:'09 Pulsar220F'}}</ref>
|-
| Pulsar 220S DTS-i <ref name="bajajauto1"/>
| 220
| 1350
| 21.04
| 19.12
| 138<ref>{{Cite magazine|magazine=[[Bike India]]|date=22 June 2009|author=Aspi Bhathena (performance tester)|title=Road test: '09 Pulsar 220|url=http://www.bikeindia.in/reviews/roadtest/The-EmperorStrikes-back/|access-date=2010-02-18}}{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
|-
| Pulsar NS200 <ref>{{cite web|url=http://overdrive.in/details/947/Bajaj-Pulsar-200NS---first-impression|title=Bajaj Pulsar 200NS – first impression|publisher=Overdrive|author=Bertrand D'souza|date=30 January 2012|access-date=2012-11-02|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828112833/http://overdrive.in/details/947/Bajaj-Pulsar-200NS---first-impression|archive-date=28 August 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
| 200
| 1363
| 24.5
| 18.7
| 138
|-
| Pulsar NS125 || 125
| 1363
|
|
|
|-
| Pulsar NS160 || 160
| 1363
|
|
|
|-
| Pulsar N160
| 160
|
| 16
| 14.65
| 120
|-
| Pulsar F250
| 250
|
| 24.1
| 21.5
| 142
|-
| Pulsar N250
| 250
|
| 24.2
| 21.5
| 142
|-
|Pulsar AS150 ||150
|1363
|17.0
|13.0
|110
|-
| Pulsar AS200 || 200
| 1363
| 23.5
| 18.3
| 138
|-
| Pulsar RS200 || 200
| 1355
| 24.5
| 18.7
| 140
|-
| Pulsar NS400Z || 400
| 1363
| 40
| 35
| 176
|-
| Pulsar N125 || 125
|
|
|
|
|}

==Variants==
*'''DTS-i Series''' (standard)
**125 (Neon and Standard)
**150 (Twin Disc, SD, Neon)
**180 (Discontinued)
**200 (Discontinued)
**220S (Discontinued)
*'''Light Sports (LS) Series'''
**135LS (Discontinued)
*'''Adventure Sports (AS) Series'''
**AS150 (Discontinued)
**AS200 (Discontinued)
*'''Naked Sports (NS) Series'''
**NS125
**NS160<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barmon |first=Sajib |date=24 July 2025 |title=Bajaj Pulsar NS160 |url=https://www.bikersbuddy.com/reviews/bajaj-pulsar-ns-160 |access-date=24 July 2025 |website=Bikersbuddy}}</ref> (Available)
**[[Bajaj Pulsar 200NS|NS200]]
**NS400Z
*'''Naked (N) Series'''
**N125
**N150 (Discontinued)
**N160
**[[Bajaj Pulsar N250|N250]]
*'''Race Sports (RS) Series'''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bajaj Pulsar RS200 Bike Price, Mileage, Colours, Image {{!}} Bajaj Auto |url=https://www.bajajauto.com/bikes/pulsar/pulsar-rs200 |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=www.bajajauto.com |archive-date=23 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240223071544/https://www.bajajauto.com/bikes/pulsar/pulsar-rs200 |url-status=live }}</ref>
**RS200
*'''P Series'''
**P150 (Discontinued/Replaced with N150)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bajaj Pulsar P150 Price- Images, Colours, Specs & Reviews |url=https://www.bikedekho.com/bajaj/pulsar-p150 |access-date=2025-05-07 |website=BikeDekho |language=en}}</ref>
*'''Faired (F) Series'''
**F250 (Discontinued)
**180F (Discontinued)
**220F

==History==
===2001===
The Bajaj Pulsar "Twins" were launched on 24 November 2001. The first generation Pulsar had a 150/180cc two valve, [[air-cooled]], [[single-cylinder]], [[four-stroke engine]] which made 12/15 bhp of maximum power respectively. It featured a single [[spark plug]] to ignite the air-fuel mixture fed from a [[carburetor]], simple spring [[shock absorbers]], round headlamp dome, voluminous 18 [[litre]] fuel tank and a 1,265 mm [[wheelbase]]. [[Disc brakes]] as standard equipment was a novelty in Indian motorcycles of the early 2000s.

The 180 cc version made 15 bhp and came with a twin-tone horn, which was optional equipment on the 150 cc version. Electric Start (ES) and Engine Killswitch was offered as standard feature in the 180 cc model and optional on the 150 cc model.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/iw/2003/11/30/stories/2003113000101100.htm |title=Pulsar DTSi: Suave but savage |newspaper=The Hindu Business Line |date=30 November 2003 |access-date=2010-07-28 |archive-date=28 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091128040424/http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/iw/2003/11/30/stories/2003113000101100.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

===2003===
[[File:Bajaj Pulsar 150, 2003.jpg|thumb|right|2003 Model bajaj pulsar 150 cc]]
The second generation Pulsars featured Bajaj Auto's newly developed DTSi (Digital Twin Spark Ignition) technology, which increased the power rating of both versions by {{convert|1|HP|abbr=on}} each and also increased fuel economy.<ref name=DTSi>{{cite web |url=http://www.blonnet.com/iw/2003/11/30/stories/2003113000101100.htm |title=DTSi Technology |access-date=2007-04-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070504022643/http://www.blonnet.com/iw/2003/11/30/stories/2003113000101100.htm |archive-date=4 May 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> This model also introduced a new headlamp assembly, 1,320 mm wheelbase,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/iw/2003/11/30/stories/2003113000121100.htm |title=Wheelbase |access-date=2007-04-06
| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070430093228/http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/iw/2003/11/30/stories/2003113000121100.htm| archive-date= 30 April 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref> and standard twin-tone horn and trip meter.20

===2005===
In 2005, Bajaj launched Pulsar 150. The bike was offered with {{convert|17|in|mm|adj=on}} alloy wheels as standard option, and the stance was also lowered by about 12 mm. The fuel tank had a capacity of only 15 litres when compared to the original 18 litres, this was done in order to make the tank look proportionate with the new low-slung stance.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.indiabike.com/roadtest/shootout/shootout_dec2004/design.htm| title= 2004 design upgrades| access-date= 2007-04-07| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070407234253/http://www.indiabike.com/roadtest/shootout/shootout_dec2004/design.htm| archive-date= 7 April 2007| url-status= dead| df= dmy-all}}</ref> The power output was further increased to {{convert|13.5|HP|abbr=on}} @ 8500 rpm for the 150 while it increased to {{convert|16.5|HP|abbr=on}} @ 8500 rpm for the 180.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.indiabike.com/roadtest/shootout/shootout_dec2004/engine.htm| title= 2004 power upgrades| access-date= 2007-04-07| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070409180430/http://www.indiabike.com/roadtest/shootout/shootout_dec2004/engine.htm| archive-date= 9 April 2007| url-status= dead| df= dmy-all}}</ref> The rear shock absorbers were gas-filled Nitrox absorbers.
[[File:Digitaldisplay pulsar ug3.JPG|thumbnail|The LCD screen introduced with the UG-3 version of the Pulsar]]

===2006===
In 2006, Bajaj introduced another version of Pulsar (UG III). New features included pilot lamps separated from the main headlamp, turn indicators with clear lenses and amber bulb, self-cancelling turn indicator switch, flush LCD screen with digital read-out of key vehicle data, non-contact speed sensor, non-contact backlit switches, twin-stripe LED tail-light assembly, and side panels altered for a sharp, tapering-towards-the-rear look. The engine had increased torque availability, reduced vibration, and improved gear shift feel.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.blonnet.com/iw/2006/11/05/stories/2006110502471700.htm| title= 2006 Pulsar features| access-date= 2007-04-09| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070523065058/http://www.blonnet.com/iw/2006/11/05/stories/2006110502471700.htm| archive-date= 23 May 2007| url-status= dead| df= dmy-all}}</ref>
[[File:New headlamp design.JPG|thumbnail|upright|The new headlamp design introduced for the entire Pulsar series in 2006]]

===2007===
In July 2007, Bajaj began selling the Bajaj Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi and Pulsar 180 DTS-i, the former featuring [[fuel injection]] and oil cooled engines, a digital dash, and modern styling. This bike has some features which are totally new to the Indian market, like the fuel injection itself, rear disc brake and [[clip-on handlebars]] (the first two only available in the 220 model).

===2008===
The new Pulsar has many firsts to its credit. It comes equipped with an oil cooler, which helps control engine oil temperatures at sustained high speeds and rpms, thus ensuring more stable engine oil viscosity.

The new digital console is an advanced version of the latest Pulsar family. Apart from the Digital Odometer, Digital Speedo Meter, Digital Fuel Gauge, Self Cancelling Indicators and two Digital Trip Meters, the console on the 180 cc Pulsar DTS-I has indicators for the air filter condition, engine temperature, battery voltage and oil level.
Later 200cc version was discontinued and fuel injection system of 220 was replaced with carburetor which resulted in cost reduction to Rs 73000 ex showroom Delhi

===2009===
Bajaj released the UG IV (fourth upgrade) versions of the Pulsar 150 and Pulsar 180 in April 2009. The upgrades for the Pulsar 150 included an all-black theme, tank scoops similar to those on the Pulsar 200, a 3D Pulsar logo, and a changed electrical system (full DC). Power also increased from 13.5 HP to 14.09 HP (at 8,500 rpm).

Electrical enhancements like auto head light switch-off after few seconds of turning the engine off to protect the battery, self-cancelling turn signals, icon illumination (horn icon, indicator icon, engine cut off icon, etc.), side stand warning light, dual digital trip meter, low fuel warning light (which also flashes when the engine and Auto Choke System in 220 Variant.

The Pulsar 180 received upgrades like wider tyres, split seat, tank scoops, clip-on handlebars, 3D Pulsar logo, swing arm suspension borrowed from Pulsar 200, and thicker forks. The power was increased to 17 PS.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.motorbeam.com/bajaj-pulsar-180-ug4-review-by-gurvinder/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020223300/https://www.motorbeam.com/bajaj-pulsar-180-ug4-review-by-gurvinder/|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 October 2021|title=Pulsar 180 UG IV — Full Test|first=Bunny|last=Punia|magazine=Bike India|date=24 April 2009|access-date=2009-05-04}}</ref>

Bajaj launched a carbureted version of Pulsar 220 in June 2009, tagging it as "the fastest bike in India".<ref>[http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Two-wheelers/New-Pulsar-Fastest-production-bike-in-India/articleshow/4739270.cms New Pulsar: Fastest production bike in India] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090728194318/http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Two-wheelers/New-Pulsar-Fastest-production-bike-in-India/articleshow/4739270.cms |date=28 July 2009 }}. Economictimes.indiatimes.com (2009-07-05). Retrieved on 2012-05-21.</ref> It also discontinued the production of Pulsar 200 in July 2009.

Bajaj also introduced a new Light Sports version of Pulsar named as Pulsar 135LS. It is the first bike in India to contain 4-valve DTS-i technology. It consists 4 smaller valves rather than 2 standard bigger valves, styling also is changed and looks become more aggressive. The bike is ARAI certified for 68.5 km/L and weights only 122 kg.

===2010===
Bajaj released the UG 4.5 versions of the Pulsar 150. The upgrades for the Pulsar 150 included clip-on handlebars like those in Pulsar 135LS. Power also increased from 14.09 HP to 15.06 HP (at 9,000 rpm).

The model badge was redesigned and did not feature 'DTS-i' as in the previous models.
[[File:Bajaj Pulsar 180 2010 model.jpg|thumb|Bajaj Pulsar 180 2010 model in Bengaluru, India]]

A naked version of Pulsar 220 is also launched, named as Pulsar 220S ([[Streetfighter|Street Fighter]]) which retains everything from Pulsar 220 except the front fairing. Front fairing is similar to Pulsar 180/150. The former Pulsar 220 was renamed as Pulsar 220F.

===2011===
Bajaj released newer color schemes for the Pulsar 135LS, 150, 180 and 220F.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://motoroids.com/news/bajaj-pulsar-135ls-gets-speed-lines.html|title=Pulsar gets speed lines|publisher=[[Motoroids.com]]|access-date=4 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108015455/http://motoroids.com/news/bajaj-pulsar-135ls-gets-speed-lines.html|archive-date=8 January 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Riding my Pulsar 180cc in Mysore Road, India.jpg|thumb|Riding a Pulsar 180cc on Indian roads]]

===2012===
2012 marked the entry of Bajaj's latest design, the [[Pulsar 200NS]] (NS standing for Naked-Sport). The bike has a revised 200 cc liquid-cooled engine derived from the [[KTM 200 Duke]], which produces {{convert|23.17|bhp|abbr=on}} at 9,500 rpm and {{convert|18.3|Nm|abbr=on}} at 8,000 rpm. It has a new triple-spark design, along with a new four-valve SOHC. The company claims a top speed of {{convert|136|km/h|abbr=on}}. It does not have fuel injection like its predecessor, the Pulsar 220Fi. It has a petal disc brake on the front, a disc brake on the rear wheel, and a gas-charged monoshock. It was launched in April 2012.<ref name=overdrive>{{cite web|url=http://overdrive.in/details/947/Bajaj-Pulsar-200NS---first-impression|title=Pulsar 200NS specifications|publisher=[[Overdrive (Indian magazine)|Overdrive]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828112833/http://overdrive.in/details/947/Bajaj-Pulsar-200NS---first-impression|archive-date=28 August 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Claimed fuel economy is {{convert|58|km/L|mpgus}} when ridden under {{convert|60|km/h}}.<ref name=overdrive/> Design of the 200NS was by Bajaj lead designer [[Edgar Heinrich]], who left Bajaj to become head of [[BMW Motorrad]] design in mid-2012.<ref>{{citation|journal=[[Bike India]] |url=http://www.bikeindia.in/news/industry-buzz/704-heinrich-switches-from-bajaj-to-bmw-motorrad |title=Heinrich switches from Bajaj to BMW Motorrad |date=5 March 2012 |access-date=2012-11-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018065009/http://bikeindia.in/news/industry-buzz/704-heinrich-switches-from-bajaj-to-bmw-motorrad |archive-date=18 October 2012 }}</ref>

===2014===
At the February 2014 [[Auto Expo]], Bajaj announced two new 375 cc Pulsar variants : the CS400, an unfaired "street-naked" compared stylistically to the [[Ducati Diavel]],<ref name=zee20140205>{{citation|author=Priyadarshan Bawikar|publisher=[[Zee News]]|title=Bajaj shows off Pulsar 400 SS and CS near-production prototypes|date=5 February 2014|url=http://zeenews.india.com/business/automobiles/auto-expo-2014/bajaj-shows-off-pulsar-400-ss-and-cs-near-production-prototypes_93920.html|access-date=20 March 2014|archive-date=27 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327013611/http://zeenews.india.com/business/automobiles/auto-expo-2014/bajaj-shows-off-pulsar-400-ss-and-cs-near-production-prototypes_93920.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and the SS400, with a full fairing.<ref>{{citation|title=Auto Expo 2014: A-Z overview of bikes|date=7 February 2014|publisher=Autocar India|url=http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-news/auto-expo-2014-a-z-overview-of-bikes-371826.aspx|access-date=2014-03-19|archive-date=19 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140319233550/http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-news/auto-expo-2014-a-z-overview-of-bikes-371826.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> Models shown were described by press as "near-production prototypes.".<ref name=zee20140205/> Later in the following year the a bike looking similar to the SS400 came into production with a 200cc fuel injected engine derived from the NS200, with full fairing and twin projector headlamps and was named as Pulsar RS200. It also is the first Pulsar to get Single Channel ABS as an option.

===2015===
In April 2015, Bajaj launched the Pulsar RS200, AS150 and AS200 in which 'RS' stood for 'Race Sport' whereas 'AS' stood for 'Adventure Sport'. The RS200 is Bajaj's first attempt at a fully faired motorcycle whereas the AS series featured semi-fairing with projector headlamps common among them all. The AS200 got the same 199.5cc, single-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine that also powers the RS200 with the exception of fuel injection. Mated to a 6-speed transmission, this engine churns out a maximum power output of 23.17 PS at 9,500rpm along with a peak torque of 18.3 Nm at 8,000rpm. While the AS200 is based on the 200NS platform, the AS150 is built on a new perimeter frame instead of the standard Pulsar 150 Dtsi. The motorcycle derives its power from a 149.5cc, single-cylinder, air-cooled engine that, mated to a 5-speed gearbox, produces 16.8bhp at 9,000rpm and 13Nm at 7,500rpm. The RS200 makes slightly higher power output at 24.5PS that peaks out (compared to the AS200) at 9,750rpm and 18.6 Nm torque at 8000 rpm owing to its fuel injection.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://auto.ndtv.com/news/new-bajaj-pulsar-as200-and-as150-launched-in-india-754815|title=New Bajaj Pulsar AS200 and AS150 Launched in India|access-date=10 January 2020|archive-date=12 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190812124630/https://auto.ndtv.com/news/new-bajaj-pulsar-as200-and-as150-launched-in-india-754815|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://auto.ndtv.com/news/bajaj-launches-the-rs200-priced-at-rs-749729|title = Bajaj Pulsar RS200 Launched; Prices Start at Rs. 1.18 Lakhs}}</ref> On late 2015 Bajaj had come up with dual tone design, especially for Pulsar 220 Fighter bikes, which was later discontinued for certain colors.

===2016 ===
The CS400 concept from the 2014 Auto Expo, went through a series or rebranding before release (Pulsar CS400, Pulsar VS400, Bajaj Kratos 400). Finally, it was separated from the Pulsar range and spawned as the Bajaj Dominar 400.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

=== 2017 ===
The 200NS, which was temporarily discontinued in favor of the AS200, was reintroduced as the NS200 with an updated color scheme. Later in the year, NS200 received a Single Channel ABS Variant.

[[File:Bajaj Pulsar RS200.jpg|thumb|[[Bajaj Pulsar RS200]]]]
The entire Pulsar lineup (135LS, 150, 180, 220F, NS200, RS200) receives [[Bharat Stage emission standards|BS4]] compliant engines and AHO (Always Headlamp On) as well as a new Laser Edge color scheme. The digital display on received newer graphics and a Blue back light instead of the previously Orange back light. The Pulsar 150 received mechanical changes to conform to BS4 norms, leading to a loss of 1 Ps of power. The Pulsar 180 received a 230mm rear disc brake instead of a drum brake.

A new model named the Pulsar NS160 was released soon after. It shared most of its styling and design with the NS200, but used a smaller 160cc Oil Cooled DTS-i engine producing 15.5 Ps of power at 8500 rpm and 14.6 Nm of peak torque at 6500 rpm. It also features a skinnier rear tire and does not offer a rear disc brake.

The NS200 and RS200 were rebadged and sold in the Malaysian market as the [[Modenas]] Pulsar NS200 and [[Bajaj Pulsar RS200|RS200]].{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}
Later NS 160 was equipped with a 120/80 rear tyre and disc brakes.

=== 2019 ===
A scale-down variant of the Pulsar series, the Pulsar 125, was launched in August 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.financialexpress.com/auto/bike-news/bajaj-pulsar-125-split-seat-variant-launched-price-rs-79091-new-features-neon-colour-accents/1995538/|title = Bajaj Pulsar 125 Split Seat variant launched at Rs 79,091: New features and neon colour accents|date = 18 June 2020}}</ref> It features the same specifications as its older counterpart, the Pulsar 150, albeit being powered by a 124.4 cc engine and has a smaller price tag.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.zigwheels.com/newbikes/Bajaj/pulsar-125#leadform|title=Bajaj Pulsar 125 Price, Offers, Images, Mileage, Pulsar 125 Reviews|access-date=14 August 2020|archive-date=17 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817051316/https://www.zigwheels.com/newbikes/Bajaj/pulsar-125#leadform|url-status=live}}</ref> The bike produces 11.8 PS at 8500 rpm and has a 5-speed gearbox.

=== 2021 ===
Bajaj launched two new 250cc bikes, Pulsar F250 and N250 as successors of Pulsar 220 range on the 20th anniversary of Pulsar.<ref>{{cite web|title=New Bajaj Pulsar 250 launched in India at starting price of Rs 1,38,000. Soon they will launch twin cylinder bikes|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/auto/new-launches/story/new-bajaj-pulsar-250-launched-in-india-at-starting-price-of-rs-1-38-000-1870475-2021-10-28|website=Indian Today|date=2021-10-28|access-date=2021-12-03|archive-date=3 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203064226/https://www.indiatoday.in/auto/new-launches/story/new-bajaj-pulsar-250-launched-in-india-at-starting-price-of-rs-1-38-000-1870475-2021-10-28|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== 2022 ===
Bajaj launched new series of 150/160 cc bikes in N250 line-up, namely Pulsar P150 and Pulsar N160.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bajaj Pulsar N160 Bike Price, Mileage, Colours, Image {{!}} Bajaj Auto |url=https://www.bajajauto.com/bikes/pulsar/pulsar-n160 |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=www.bajajauto.com |archive-date=11 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211103408/https://www.bajajauto.com/bikes/pulsar/pulsar-n160 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== 2023 ===

Bajaj terminated the Pulsar P150, replacing it with new Pulsar N150 that followed the body style of N160-N250.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bajaj Pulsar N150 Bike Price, Mileage, Colours, Image {{!}} Bajaj Auto |url=https://www.bajajauto.com/bikes/pulsar/pulsar-n150 |access-date=2023-12-11 |website=www.bajajauto.com |archive-date=11 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211103410/https://www.bajajauto.com/bikes/pulsar/pulsar-n150 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== 2024 ===

Bajaj Updated the Pulsar NS Series (NS125, NS160, NS200). The updated NS now have a new LED headlight with DRLs and LCD digital instrument cluster. Bajaj introduced and launched the Pulsar NS400Z in India. The Pulsar NS400Z gets 373cc single cylinder engine which was used in Dominar 400. In November 2024, Bajaj launched the second 125cc naked bike after NS125, the Pulsar N125, which also uses 125cc l1 engine.<ref>{{Cite web |url= https://motorlane.in/bikes/launch-2024-bajaj-pulsar-ns-series/ |title= Launch – 2024 Bajaj Pulsar NS Series |publisher= Motorlane |date= February 28, 2024 |access-date= 29 February 2024 |archive-date= 29 February 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240229073939/https://motorlane.in/bikes/launch-2024-bajaj-pulsar-ns-series/ |url-status= live }}</ref>

===2025===
In January 2025, Bajaj Discontinued the Pulsar F250, due to low sales. The Pulsar F250 was expected to succeed the Pulsar 220F, but Bajaj Still sells Pulsar 220F with a BS6 engine. In July, the Pulsar N150 was discontinued and replaced by the new single-seat variant of the Pulsar N160.<ref>{{cite web | title=Bajaj Pulsar N150 Discontinued | date=15 July 2025 | url=https://www.bikewale.com/news/bajaj-pulsar-n150-discontinued/ }}</ref>

Bajaj launched the Pulsar NS400Z and Pulsar RS200. The NS400Z received updates including performance enhancements, new features, and improved hardware. The RS200 also saw updates, primarily new color variants.

Pulsar NS400Z: This model received a significant upgrade with a more powerful engine, revised hardware, and new features. It's now considered the most powerful motorcycle under 2 lakh.

Pulsar RS200: The RS200 was updated with new color options, including black and white.

==Technology==

===DTSi===
DTSi stands for Digital Twin [[Spark Ignition]], a Bajaj Auto trademark. Bajaj Auto holds an Indian patent for the DTSi technology. The Alfa Romeo Twin-Spark engines, the [[BMW F650 single|BMW F650 Funduro]] which was sold in India from 1995 to 1997 also had a twin-spark plug technology, and the Rotax motorcycle engines, more recently Honda's iDSI Vehicle engines use a similar arrangement of two spark-plugs. However very few small capacity engines did eventually implement such a scheme in their production prototypes.

====Patent infringement====

In September 2007, Bajaj Auto filed a claim accusing that the development of [[TVS Flame]] was in violation of their patent for DTS-I.<ref>{{cite news|title=Patent row: Bajaj-TVS spat may end up in court|date=6 September 2007|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Patent_row_Bajaj-TVS_spat_may_end_up_in_court/articleshow/2341713.cms|publisher=Economic Times (India Times)|access-date=2008-01-11|archive-date=16 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216001414/http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Patent_row_Bajaj-TVS_spat_may_end_up_in_court/articleshow/2341713.cms|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[TVS Motors]] decided to sue Bajaj Auto for libel.<ref>{{cite news|title=TVS takes lead in legal war with Bajaj|date=27 October 2007|publisher=Economic Times (India Times)|access-date=2008-01-11|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Auto/Two-wheelers/TVS_takes_lead_in_legal_war_with_Bajaj/articleshow/2493910.cms|archive-date=16 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216001410/http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Auto/Two-wheelers/TVS_takes_lead_in_legal_war_with_Bajaj/articleshow/2493910.cms|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Bajaj says to defend patent; TVS says will sue for libel|date=3 September 2007|work=Reuters|access-date=2008-01-11|url=http://in.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idINIndia-29302820070903|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216001423/http://in.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idINIndia-29302820070903|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 December 2008}}</ref>
In February 2008, the [[Madras High Court]] in Chennai restrained TVS from launching it with the twin spark plug technology.<ref>{{cite web |title=HC restrains TVS from launching Flame motorcycle |url=http://www.blonnet.com/2008/02/17/stories/2008021751350100.htm |access-date=1 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202171410/http://www.blonnet.com/2008/02/17/stories/2008021751350100.htm |archive-date=2 December 2008 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
TVS appealed against this decision, claiming that crucial evidence was not taken into account<ref>{{cite web|title=Patent dispute: TVS Motor goes on appeal|url=http://www.blonnet.com/2008/02/27/stories/2008022752430200.htm|access-date=1 November 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010203659/http://www.blonnet.com/2008/02/27/stories/2008022752430200.htm|archive-date=10 October 2008|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
and in March 2008, launched the Flame with a modified engine containing one spark plug.<ref>{{cite web |title=TVS Flame launched with modified engine |url=http://www.blonnet.com/2008/03/11/stories/2008031151070200.htm |access-date=1 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216001102/http://www.blonnet.com/2008/03/11/stories/2008031151070200.htm |archive-date=16 December 2008 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> The DTSi idea is a simple one to understand – it involved usage of two spark plugs (instead of one) per engine cylinder. On 16 September 2009, the [[Supreme Court of India]] permitted [[TVS Motor]]s to manufacture and sell the 125 cc [[TVS Flame]] with Twin Spark Technology<ref>{{cite web |title=Apex court allows TVS to sell 'Flame' |url=http://www.blonnet.com/2009/09/17/stories/2009091752340100.htm |access-date=24 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100825234215/http://www.blonnet.com/2009/09/17/stories/2009091752340100.htm |archive-date=25 August 2010 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> until the pendency of the suit before the Madras High Court, but it shall maintain accurate records of its sales all over the country.

===ExhausTEC===
ExhausTEC stands for '''Exhaust Torque Expansion Chamber''', a technology patented by Bajaj.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?a=jehaFDgbfca&title=Bajaj_gets_engine_technology_patent |title=Bajaj gets engine technology patent |website=[[Sify]] |access-date=2010-07-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007050704/http://www.sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?a=jehaFDgbfca&title=Bajaj_gets_engine_technology_patent |archive-date=7 October 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The technology involves use of a small chamber connected to the exhaust pipe of the engine to modify the back-pressure and the swirl characteristics, with an aim to improve the low-end performance of the bikes. The ExhausTEC technology is claimed to be highly effective in improving the low and mid-range torque.<ref>[http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Two-wheelers/Bajaj-gets-patent-for-EshausTEC-technology/articleshow/4350895.cms Bajaj gets patent for EshausTEC technology] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100129001243/http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Two-wheelers/Bajaj-gets-patent-for-EshausTEC-technology/articleshow/4350895.cms |date=29 January 2010 }}. Economictimes.indiatimes.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-21.</ref>

===Copy of Pulsar brand motorcycles===
There were several allegations of IPR infringement by [[China|Chinese]] manufacturers in [[Sri Lanka]]n and [[South America]]n markets.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Chinese-carbon-copy-of-hamara-Bajaj/articleshow/1368082.cms | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111074053/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-01-12/india/27789960_1_ipr-violations-hamara-bajaj-commerce-ministry | url-status=live | archive-date=2012-11-11 | work=[[The Times of India]] | title=Chinese carbon copy of hamara Bajaj}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/nov/22bajaj.htm |title=Chinese copy of Bajaj Pulsar banned |work=Rediff.com |access-date=2012-03-16 |archive-date=4 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904021550/http://www.rediff.com/money/2006/nov/22bajaj.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Unauthorised clones of Pulsar are sold in [[Bangladesh]] also.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bdstall.com/listingDetail/index/5689/ |title=Details of Hundai GL-150 Premio Motorcycle 150cc in Bangladesh |publisher=bdstall |access-date=2012-03-16 |archive-date=25 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125165116/http://www.bdstall.com/listingDetail/index/5689 |url-status=live }}</ref> The 'Tomahawk' motorcycle manufactured by [[Hong Kong]]-based Giantco Limited,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.giantco.com/model/motorcycle/tomahawk.htm |title=GIANTCO Motor – motorcycles, scooters, engines |publisher=Giantco.com |access-date=2012-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404080110/http://www.giantco.com/model/motorcycle/tomahawk.htm |archive-date=4 April 2012 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> 'YB200' motorcycle manufactured by China-based Taizhou City Kaitong Motorcycle Manufacture Co., Limited (the company which made a clone of Piaggio MP3),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eicma.it/en/news/chinese-clone-piaggio-mp3-seized-at-the-eicma-by-t.htm |title=Eicma 2012 |publisher=Eicma.it |access-date=2012-03-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120123151239/http://www.eicma.it/en/news/chinese-clone-piaggio-mp3-seized-at-the-eicma-by-t.htm |archive-date=23 January 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kaitongmotor.com/show_product_137.html |title=Taizhou City Kaitong Motorcycle Manufacture Co., Ltd |publisher=Kaitongmotor.com |access-date=2012-03-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425231922/http://www.kaitongmotor.com/show_product_137.html |archive-date=25 April 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> 'ZX200-7(G) and ZX200-7(II)' motorcycles manufactured by China-based Jiangsu Zhongxing Motor Group Co., Limited,<ref>[http://www.zxmco.com/product_info.asp?product_ID=285 Item No.: ZX200-7(G)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426002222/http://www.zxmco.com/product_info.asp?product_ID=285 |date=26 April 2012 }}. zxmco.com</ref><ref>[http://www.zxmco.com/product_info.asp?product_ID=377 Item No.: ZX200-7(II)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426002253/http://www.zxmco.com/product_info.asp?product_ID=377 |date=26 April 2012 }}. zxmco.com</ref> 'RT150-8' motorcycle manufactured by China-based Chongqing Rato Power Co., Limited,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rato.cc/aspx/english/showpic.aspx?classid=32&id=116 |title=RATO |publisher=Rato.cc |access-date=2012-03-16 |archive-date=4 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404120720/http://www.rato.cc/aspx/english/showpic.aspx?classid=32&id=116 |url-status=live }}</ref> 'SM150-GB’ motorcycle manufactured by China-based Pantera Motorcycle Co., Limited,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pantera-motorcycle.com/sdp/356928/4/pd-1687377/6936438-846059/Motorcycle_SM150-GB.html |title=Motorcycle(SM150-GB) – MOTORCYCLE – Product Catalog – chongqing new star co., ltd |publisher=Pantera-motorcycle.com |access-date=2012-03-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102083602/http://www.pantera-motorcycle.com/sdp/356928/4/pd-1687377/6936438-846059/Motorcycle_SM150-GB.html |archive-date=2 January 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> 'HJ200-23' motorcycle manufactured by China-based Guangzhou Panyu Haojian Motorcycle Industry Co., Limited,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hj-haojian.com/ProductShow.asp?ID=86|title=豪剑摩托车|publisher=Hj-haojian.com|access-date=2012-03-16|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426005632/http://www.hj-haojian.com/ProductShow.asp?ID=86|archive-date=26 April 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref> 'VL150-30, VL150-28 & VL150-26' motorcycles manufactured by China-based Veli Technology Industrial Co., Limited,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.velimotor.com/Item/559.aspx |title=VL150-30-Velimotor |publisher=Velimotor.com |date=2011-11-30 |access-date=2012-03-16 |archive-date=18 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161218085331/http://www.velimotor.com/Item/559.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.velimotor.com/Item/552.aspx |title=VL150-28-Velimotor |publisher=Velimotor.com |date=2011-11-28 |access-date=2012-03-16 |archive-date=18 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161218085725/http://www.velimotor.com/Item/552.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.velimotor.com/Item/551.aspx |title=VL150-26-Velimotor |publisher=Velimotor.com |date=2011-11-28 |access-date=2012-03-16 |archive-date=5 February 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130205103333/http://www.velimotor.com/Item/551.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> 'SUM200 Pulsar' motorcycle manufactured by China-based Chongqing Union Co., Limited,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chinamotorcycle.cn/products/product_info.asp?id=218 |title=Chongqing Union Co., Ltd. ATV, dirt bike, motorcycle manufacture in China |publisher=Chinamotorcycle.cn |access-date=2012-03-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426035635/http://www.chinamotorcycle.cn/products/product_info.asp?id=218 |archive-date=26 April 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> 'YG200-7A' motorcycle manufactured by China-based Chongqing Yingang Sci.&Tech.(Group) Co., Limited<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yingangmotor.com/product/detail.aspx?type=2&infoid=49 |title=Welcome to the World of YinGang | Motorcycles,Motorbikes(CUB,Street,Off Road,Chopper,ATV,Three Wheel,Engine) Detail |publisher=Yingangmotor.com |access-date=2012-03-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090818204610/http://yingangmotor.com/product/detail.aspx?type=2&infoid=49 |archive-date=18 August 2009 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> and 'YX150-CS' motorcycle manufactured by China-based Chongqing YInxiang Motorcycle (Group) Co., Limited<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yinxianggroup.com/PRODUCTS/%e4%ba%a7%e5%93%81%e8%af%a6%e6%83%85/tabid/157/ProductId/24/language/zh-CN/Default.aspx |title=> PRODUCTS > 产品详情__YX200-C5 |publisher=Yinxiang Group |date=2010-08-18 |access-date=2012-03-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120521144157/http://www.yinxianggroup.com/PRODUCTS/%e4%ba%a7%e5%93%81%e8%af%a6%e6%83%85/tabid/157/ProductId/24/language/zh-CN/Default.aspx |archive-date=21 May 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> are some famous replicas of Pulsar brand motorcycles' Bajaj Pulsar RS 200 Sports Bike.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://youngstershub.com/bajaj-pulsar-rs-200-sports-bike-specifications-and-booking-started/|title=Bajaj Pulsar RS 200 Sports Bike Specifications|publisher=youngstershub.com|date=20 January 2015|access-date=20 January 2015|archive-date=26 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150326163745/http://youngstershub.com/bajaj-pulsar-rs-200-sports-bike-specifications-and-booking-started/|url-status=live}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Model !! Company !! Replica of
|-
| Tomahawk || Giantco Limited || Pulsar 150, 180
|-
| ZX200-7(G) & ZX200-7(II) || Jiangsu Zhongxing Motor Group ||
|-
| YB200 || Kaitong Motorcycle || Pulsar 150, 180, 220
|-
| RT150-8 || Chongqing Rato Power || Pulsar 150, 180, 220
|-
| SM150-GB || Pantera Motorcycle Co ||
|-
| HJ200-23 || Guangzhou Panyu Haojian Motorcycle Industry || Pulsar 150, 180
|-
| SM150-GB || Pantera Motorcycle ||
|-
| VL150-30, VL150-28 & VL150-26 || Veli Technology Industrial || Pulsar 135
|-
| SUM200 Pulsar || Chongqing Union || Pulsar 150, 180
|-
| YG200-7A || Chongqing Yingang Sci.&Tech.(Group) || Pulsar 150, 180
|-
| YX150-CS || Chongqing YInxiang Motorcycle(Group) ||
|}

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Bajaj Pulsar}}
*[https://www.bajajauto.com/motor-bikes/pulsar-150-dtsi/home Bajaj Auto Ltd]
*[https://nepal.globalbajaj.com/en/brands/pulsar Global Bajaj Nepal]
{{clear}}
{{Bajaj motorcycles}}

[[Category:Bajaj motorcycles|Pulsar]]
[[Category:Motorcycles introduced in 2001]]
[[Category:Standard motorcycles]]