Czech Author Slams Claim He Aided Reds

Czech author Milan Kundera emerged from media isolation today to denounce a story that he betrayed a Cold War agent to the Communists, the Guardian reports. A historian says that in 1950, Kundera ratted on a Czech deserter hired by Western intelligence; the man served 14 years of mostly hard labor. "I am totally astonished by something that I did not expect, about which I knew nothing only yesterday," Kundera said.

He called the accusation "the assassination of an author." But Kundera's alleged aid to police only scratches the surface of his secret life, a historian said: "A murky and convoluted story has now accidentally surfaced...it indicates there may be other reasons for his reclusiveness than we previously imagined." Kundera, who has criticized communism in his novels, supported the Communist Party in his early years.  (More Communists stories.)