The nature of his achievement may explain in part why Kundera is so fiercely protective of his privacy. Warned by mutual friends that the Soviet subjugation of his country had made Kundera mistrustful of Russians - all Russians - I felt I should mention my Russian origin. MILAN KUNDERA AND HIS WIFE, VERA, LIVE ON ONE of the quiet sidestreets of Montparnasse; their small apartment is a remodeled garret with a view of dove-gray Parisian roofs. Some are by Czechoslovak artists; the others are by Kundera himself - multicolored outsized heads and long-fingered hands, like Kundera's own. Vera Kundera is a pretty brunette, hair cut short, slender in blue jeans.

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Persons: Philip Roth, Kundera, I'm, Leonid Andreyev, VERA, garret, Vera Kundera, Vera Organizations: MILAN Locations: Paris, San Francisco, Montparnasse, Czechoslovak, Bon Marche