Testaments Betrayed is perceived like a novel: the same characters appear and reappear throughout the nine parts of the book, as do the principal themes that preoccupy the author. Kundera once again celebrates the art of the novel, from its birth in a spirit of humour unique to European culture and sensibility - illustrated by some examples from the work of Rabelais and Cervantes - through its flowering in successive centuries. He notes the novel's mysterious kinship with music and the parallel (but not simultaneous) evolution of the two arts in the West, as well as the particular wisdom the novel offers about human existence. The art of translation is the subject of one part of the book, illuminating the significance of its title. Kundera is an advocate of the moral rights of the artist and the respect due a work of art and its creator's wishes. The betrayal of both - often by their most passionate proponents - is on the principal themes of Testaments Betrayed.