Wednesday 4 February 2009

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera (Review)


Milan Kundera is a man on a mission. And his mission is simple yet arduous: to preserve his country’s collective memory.

In 1968 Soviet tanks rolled into Prague to quell the uprising led by progressive forces against the totalitarian, Moscow-backed Czech regime. The aftermath of this invasion saw Czechoslovakia remain occupied until 1990. ‘The Book of Laughter and Forgetting’ deals with what one of the characters in the novel calls ‘the struggle of man against power’.

At the time of the Prague Spring (as this period became known) Kundera’s first novel ‘The Joke’ and his collection of stories ‘Laughable Loves’ were being published in editions of 150,000. After the Soviet invasion the Czech writer was dismissed from his teaching post at the Prague Institute for Advanced Cinematographic Studies and his books banned. He has lived in France since 1975.

In ‘The Book of Laughter and Forgetting’ Kundera's targets were not just the Stalinist regime that was imposed in Czechoslovakia from 1948 until 1989 (minus that brief period of January to August 1968) but also the people who forgot the feeling of untruth they were being told. These were the people who enthusiastically joined the orgy of betrayal and self-betrayal, and became staunch defenders of the new system. Should a critic of the regime have pointed out an irregularity here or there, these cheerleaders of the totalitarian dictatorship would have shrugged their shoulders and claimed it was always supposed to be thus.

To the seasoned Kundera’s reader (and I count myself as one), ‘The Book of Laughter and Forgetting’ offers yet another spin on the same theme of Stalinist totalitarianism. Milan had already touched upon it in ‘The Joke’ and delved into more thoroughly in ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’. But far from being repetitive, in ‘The Book…’ Kundera focuses on the existence and loss of humour, on the various ways in which laughter manifests itself – the Devil’s laugh vs the angels’ laugh- and man’s metaphysical attitude to laughter. Above all, Milan resorts to what I have come to label ‘positive negativity’ (I’m sure there’s a technical term for it in literature) where by means of a series of positive phrases, sentences and expressions the opposite is implied. His allegory of Stalinism as the dream of paradise is spot on. Here’s a world where everybody could finally live in harmony, united by a common belief. And it is through this archetype that totalitarianism attracts so many followers, especially during the early years of its existence (Cuban Revolution anyone?). Once the dreams of paradise starts to turn into reality however, those who oppose this golden dream end up in a prison/concentration camp in the outskirts of Eden.

It is hard to define the plot of this novel as in Kundera's own words 'this book is a novel in the form of variations.'

Mirek travels to the countryside to meet Zdena, a woman he once had a fling with. Marketa and Karel have constant run-ins with the latter's mother and so decide to move out. Gabrielle and Michelle are two American girls who are doing an analysis on a play by Ionesco. Tamina, the main character in the novel, is a waitress in a small café which belongs to a married couple in some provincial town in the west of Europe. However, Kundera states that 'this is a novel about Tamina, and whenever Tamina is absent, it is a novel for Tamina. Tamina dies in Part Six of the book. In the meantime there's also an explanation of the word 'litost' in Czech, which, to a linguist like me, was a wonder to enjoy and behold. And as in many books by Kundera there's sex, a lot of it, uncompromised, unbridled and taboo-less.

How to read this novel, then? As an allegory? Nein, Herr Kundera seems to be saying. In an interview with the American author Philip Roth that appears at the end of the book, almost like an epilogue, Kundera states what constitutes a novel for him and what to me would serve as a good guide for first-time readers of this important, contemporary Czech writer's oeuvre:

'A novel is a long piece of synthetic prose based on play with invented characters. These are the only limits. By the term synthetic I have in mind the novelist's desire to grasp his subject from all sides and in the fullest possible completeness. Ironic essay, novelistic narrative, autobiographical fragment, historic fact, flight of fantasy. The synthetic power of the novel is capable of combining everything into a unified whole like the voices of polyphonic music. The unity of the book need not stem from the plot, but can be provided by the theme. In my latest book, there are two such themes: laughter and forgetting.'

Copyright 2009

27 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on an important piece of writing. I always enjoy hearing/seeing/reading what you share....

    I left a token of my thanks at my blog; please stop by!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think you have a vocation in literary criticism/review my friend...

    Beautiful insights.

    I will keep an eye out for his work,

    Peace and power, M

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very very intersting read. thank you. All this makes me sonder, Cuban, how you left Cuba and marreid an English woman?!! Evocative photo, btw. Beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I loved this book as a child even though I could neva have truly appreciated it as a youth. I have been reticent to reread it as an adult in order not to disturb that image of myself from long ago. Quite shameful actually, yes?

    I think I shall give it another read. It deserves to be read again.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Many thanks to all for your kind comments.

    Greetings from London.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Greetings from the French Alps where we are not snowed under as in London...
    This makes me want to reread the book - thanks for sharing your thoughts..:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great post! I am a great fan of Milan Kundera's work as well and The Unbearable Lightness is one of my favourite books ever. I have read The Book of Laughter some time ago and remember not being terribly impressed with it but perhaps it was a wrong time in my life... having read your review I'm going to give it another go. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Many thanks, here, there and polly, for your kind comments.

    Greetings from London.

    ReplyDelete
  9. As Kundera himself said: "The light that radiates from the great novels time can never dim, for human existence is perpetually being forgotten by man and thus the novelists discoveries, however old they may be, will never cease to astonish."

    Hmmm, wise words...and yours, Cuban, are equally illuminating. Thank you for a fascinating review. I've not read this one, so I'm off to put it on my wish list right now!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Fab! One time I went through an intense Kundera/Marquez/Calvino phase. Kundera has the heart, Marquez the music, and Calvino the mind. Thanks for making "Laughter" fresh for me and letting others know of his gift.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Many thanks, Tessa, for that lovely comment.

    Gabby, that surely was a good combo. However, Marquez has fallen in my ratings. read 'El Amor...', 'Cien...', 'El Coronel..' and 'Cuentos de Macondo' and was mightily disappointed. I did like 'El Coronel...', though. Many thanks for such wise words.

    Greetings from London.

    ReplyDelete
  12. He's a genius. Thanks for your thoughtful review of the man and his books.

    ReplyDelete
  13. "la broma" una mezcla de sensaciones, que nos recuerda a una celebre consigna "marxista" pero en tiempo de satira:
    la vida repartirá motivos , beneficios y justificaciones a diferentes individuos... a cada cual según su tiempo, a cada quien según su espacio.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Gracias por traer esta novela, desde el agradable e inteligente estilo descargoso, de cuban in london que en G.A. ya extranamos.

    abrazo, t. :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Many thanks, Reya, muchas gracias, asere.

    Greetings from London.

    ReplyDelete
  16. You have reawakened my early maddness for Kundera. Now I want to sweep other books aside and read him all over again. See what you did?
    I particularly want to get back to "Immortality", and swim through that surreal world.
    Thank you, you are a very good teacher.
    Lyn

    ReplyDelete
  17. Lyn, I loved 'Immortality'! Many thanks for your comment.

    Greetings from London.

    ReplyDelete
  18. another must read for my list, I liked the use of the" positive negativity" as your description of a process which may exist in all arenas...as far as the photo, it too, speaks of this contradiction, variations, like the image of the rose? salut du midi!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Many thanks, dancing, this is definitely a must-read.

    Greetings from London.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I had a Kundera phase about 20 years ago, and remember hugely enjoying (is this the right word for such thoughtful writings?) this book and others. Your review makes me want to go back and revisit Kundera's books.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Yes, 'enjoying' is the right word, Bee. Many thanks for your comment.

    Greetings from London.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I'm going to HAVE to floow this one. Very intriging....my Prince is from South London. We have a daughter still there and one in Barry Wales.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Many thanks for your kind comment, midlife.

    Greetings from London.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Asante sana for introducing me to Milan Kundera. Nive review, took me back to college. :-)

    After reading your review, I am especially intrigued by the befogging of the mind, the brainwashing...

    I will look for this book.

    Mama Shujaa

    ReplyDelete
  25. Thanks for the great review. I have only read two of Kundera's books: "Life is Elsewhere" and "Ignorance"... I absolutely loved them both!

    I will make sure I get hold of this one too, sounds great.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Incredible as it may semm, I discovered Kundera only after starting my blog, and I read 5 of his novels in a row (this one among them). The only thing that stopped me was that I couldn't find any more of his masterpieces at the local library. Thanks Cuban for this wonderful review, which is in itself a work of art.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Many thanks for your lovely comments.

    Greetings from London.

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...