At his La république des livres weblog Pierre Assouline reports on L'angoisse de Milan Kundera -- the anguish of Milan Kundera -- quoting at length from a recent speech Kundera gave when he accepted the Prix de la BnF (the French national library) a few weeks ago.
Kundera said:
Not many authors are still holding out from e-formats -- and, indeed, presumably few have enough clout to be able to do so. Kundera can afford to -- though one has to wonder: to what end ?
Kundera said:
C’est à cause de cette angoisse que, depuis plusieurs années déjà, j’ajoute à tous mes contrats, partout, une clause stipulant que mes romans ne peuvent être publiés que sous la forme traditionnelle du livre.I.e. for several years, he's insisted on a clause in his contracts stipulating that his books only appear in 'traditional' (i.e. printed) form -- no e-book versions. And, indeed, you won't find any Kundera titles on Kindle (etc.).
Not many authors are still holding out from e-formats -- and, indeed, presumably few have enough clout to be able to do so. Kundera can afford to -- though one has to wonder: to what end ?