What Makes a Nation. a Nation?
What Makes A Nation, A Nation? No nation can exist forever. So what makes a nation, a nation? Milan Kundera’s essay, “A Nation Which Cannot Take Itself for Granted” examines this significant question. Published in June 1967, Kundera, a reformed Czechoslovakian communist writer, explores the sphere of culture and optimism of the Czech nation during the period of de-Stalinization in Eastern Europe. “The existence of the Czech nation has never been a matter to be taken for granted and it is this fact which is its central predicament” (Stokes, 151). How will the Czechoslovakian people answer this question about what constitutes a nation? According to some scholars, geographic boundaries define a nation. However, the borders of nations can change from decade to decade, regime to regime. The post World War II era makes this a difficult question to answer, but not impossible. Kundera argues that it is the responsibility of Czech writers to define and answer the question of what makes a nation through culture and language. Kundera asks the Czech people to rebuild the nation through the lens of culture and language proposed by writers like him. After WWII, the borders of Czechoslovakia remained intact. The people remained in the same place, lived in the same location, and spoke the same language. If the nation no longer existed, then it would be logical that the people no longer exist. Arguing that a nation exists based on its borders and area of land is weak. Borders do not make a nation; its people, language, and culture make a nation. A sense of nationalism gives rise to a common national identity and Kundera argues that the Czech people will have to reinvent their national identity, like so many times before. Stalinism isolated Czech culture for more than a quarter of a century. According to Kundera this isolation cast Czech culture “into the suburbs of Europe” and almost no cultural advancements were made (Stokes,