The Book of Laughter and Forgetting | Milan Kundera

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting | Milan Kundera | The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

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The Book of Laught...

	The Book of Laughter and Forgetting Milan Kundera Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 1999 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 57 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Rich in its stories, characters, and imaginative range, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is the novel that brought Milan Kundera his first big international success in the late 1970s. Like all his work, it is valuable for far more than its historical implications. In seven wonderfully integrated parts, different aspects of human existence are magnified and reduced, reordered and emphasized, newly examined, analyzed, and experienced.

Classic, devastating

THE BOOK OF LAUGHTER AND FORGETTING is a sophisticated work of art. An amalgam of experimental fiction, straightforward storytelling, magical realism and metafiction, it successfully grapples with bigger than big themes, portraying the crucible that was Czechoslovakia after the Russian invasion in 1968 and before the dissolution of the Soviet empire. Kundera makes this tall order work in prose that rings sharp and clear. It is difficult to believe that this was not originally written in English, and the credit for the translation goes to Michael Henry Heim, at least for the used edition I purchased (part of Penguin's "Voices From the Other Europe" series edited by Philip Roth, circa 1980). The book was first published in Europe in the late 1970's.

At one point in the novel, Kundera, a trained musician, describes why Beethoven was drawn to the variations form, in which an original 16-measure theme gradually changes in each variation. This is a key to how Kundera the writer has constructed this book in a series of stories to explicate the significance of memory in art and life, the devastation by the political and the metaphorical effects of laughter in its many forms. If this sounds like too much abstraction, please know that Kundera has created very real characters in visual language, and the action moves swiftly. He periodically deploys sexual scenes with late 20th century European sensibility that provides yet another lens on his central themes.

After the 1968 invasion, Kundera lost his professorship at the Prague Institute and saw his books removed from public shelves. Eventually, he and his wife went into exile. When he published this book, his citizenship was revoked and it was banned in his native country. We know that things are different now, but this cry from the heart of political, artistic and personal oppression is a message that should never be forgotten.

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The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

This is an important book. Exquisite writing, wit, humour, tragedy - Kundera is quite simply a genius. If you haven't read this, please do. You will be so much better for it. Looooooooooooved it. Infinite number of stars and counting.

Kundera's Lessons in Laughter and Forgetting.

"To laugh is to live profoundly" (p. 79).

Milan Kundera's Book of Laughter and Forgetting (Kniha smíchu a zapomnìní) was his first publication after he relocated to France in 1975. Published before Kundera's most famous novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, the non-traditional "novel" consists of several separate narratives united by common philosophical themes of life, sex, music, literature, and political opposition to the communism. The first section of the book ("Lost Letters") tells the story of Mirek, a former communist supporter, now determined to destroy the love letters he once sent to an ugly woman named Zdena. In the second section ("Mother"), Karel invites his mother to spend a week with him and his wife, Marketa. Karel and Marketa introduce her to their friend Eva as Marketa's cousin, when in fact she is their lover. The third section ("The Angels") tells the story of Kundera's attempt to write a horoscope for his employer (using a pseudonym) in Russian-occupied Czechoslovakia. His coworker (code named R.) is then questioned by the police about the writing, quickly turning office laughter into paranoia. Part four of the book ("Lost Letters") tells the story of a cafe waitress, Tamina, who wants a customer, Bibi, to retrieve her love letters and diaries from her mother-in-law in Prague to help her remember her deceased husband. Another customer, Hugo, is secretly in love with Tamina, and in an attempt to win her heart, offers to help her if Bibi cannot travel to Prague. Tamina eventually has sex with Hugo, but all the while her thoughts are on her deceased husband. The last section of the book ("Litost") tells the story of Kristyna's love for a philosophy and poetry student, who suffers from "litost," "a state of torment upon by the realization of one's inadequacy or misery." Kristyna fears having sex with him will make her pregnant and then put her life at risk. The student misinterprets this to mean Kristyna believes she will die from her immense love for him. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting reveals the work of a brilliant mind through Kundera's gifted style.

G. Merritt

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A good introduction to Kundera's work...

This is one of Kundera's best works and a good place to start for an introduction to his fiction. I don't use the term "novel" because Kundera hesitates to use it. As he says in the text, this book is made up of little vignettes (with no common characters) which are different "variations" on the themes of laughter and forgetting. Like much of Kundera's work, it deals with the subjugation of the Czech people. When the Russians took over their country, they instituted a program of official "forgetting" - erasing the country's culture and history. The book is a good example of Kundera's philosophical style - with an emphasis on telling, not showing.

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"They never understood each other...yet they always agreed."

Really a fantastic read, full of originality and some sense of realism. It's essentially a novel comprised of what could be called seven short stories, but interspersed within each story are the author's musings on life, politics, relationships and even autobiographical sketches. The perspectives Kundera provided about living and functioning within the former Czechoslovakia while under communist and Soviet control was, I thought, fascinating. Such perspectives were presented not just through autobiographical presentations, but through each character in each of the stories.

Kundera's examination of relationships, be it the individual's internal relationship with him/herself, or the relations between the individual and other persons, the individual and "the state", or the individual and the whole of humanity were engaging. Kundera's writing and presentation were clear and concise, yet his concepts had great depth. His thoughts/opinions/perspectives gave me many opportunities to ponder life's various aspects. I appreciated that because it too often seems I get too bogged down with life's minutiae to remember to stop and reflect on important things...like how we (humanity) relate to each other.

There are, however, a few sections, seemingly more towards the end, that just flat out border on the bizarre. That being said, it wasn't a major detractor from the overall quality of Kundera's writing.

The only regret I have in reading this book is that I wasn't able to do it simultaneously with a friend who would also value the perspectives, philosophical musings and discussion of human relations that are contained in it. To do so would have led to great conversations while sitting with the friend in the corner of a quiet cafe on a cold, rainy afternoon.

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