"Francois Ricard's book joins the great French tradition of the literary essay as a meditation on the writing of Milan Kundera." "Agnes's Final Afternoon imitates the protagonist of Kundera's novel Immortality on the last afternoon of her life. Like all readers of fiction, Agnes steps out of her car - out of the world of planned routes, responsibilities, and social self - and gives herself up to the discovery of a new landscape, an experience that will transform her. Francois Ricard's essay enters into the writings of Milan Kundera in much the same way. The landscape he explores includes a chain of ten novels, composed between 1959 and 1999, and two books containing one of the most lucid reflections on the novel."--Jacket.