Point Regarding Books The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Title | : | The Book of Laughter and Forgetting |
Author | : | Milan Kundera |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 313 pages |
Published | : | May 1st 1999 by HarperPerennial Modern Classics (first published 1979) |
Categories | : | Fiction. European Literature. Czech Literature. Literature. Philosophy. Classics. Novels. Short Stories |
Milan Kundera
Paperback | Pages: 313 pages Rating: 3.99 | 38884 Users | 1874 Reviews
Interpretation Supposing Books The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
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 1970's. Like all his work, it is valuable for far more than just 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.
Describe Books In Pursuance Of The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Original Title: | Kniha smÃchu a zapomnÄ›nà |
ISBN: | 0060932147 (ISBN13: 9780060932145) |
Edition Language: | English |
Characters: | Mirek, Znedna, Tamina |
Setting: | Prague (Praha)(Czech Republic) |
Literary Awards: | Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction (1984) |
Rating Regarding Books The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Ratings: 3.99 From 38884 Users | 1874 ReviewsColumn Regarding Books The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
"The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."The stupidity of people comes from having an answer for everything. The wisdom of the novel comes from having a question for everything....The novelist teaches the reader to comprehend the world as a question. There is wisdom and tolerance in that attitude. In a world built on sacrosanct certainties the novel is dead. The totalitarian world, whether founded on Marx, Islam, or anything else, is a world of answersHe was well aware that of the two or three thousand times he had made love (how many times had he made love in his life?) only two or three were really essential and unforgettable. The rest were mere echoes, imitations, repetitions, or reminiscences.Ah, the endlessly quotable Kundera. I had to hold myself back from updating my status every other page; there were just so many perfectly composed sentences I wanted to share with you, goodreaders. Sometimes thats all it takes to win me over, a
...because love is continual interrogation. I don't know of a better definition of love. This wont be the Kundera book I would recommend to a reader new to him. Not that it is bad it still has all the interesting psychology (he dislikes the word), philosophy (he dislikes that too) and sex ( Well, he is a man.); the trouble with this book is it is too much into Kunderism. The good thing about him is he never beats around the bush. It is as if he knows what he has show and only tells parts of

Brilliant in parts, but also messy and uneven. It is a twisting novel of lovers, sex, names, poets, politics, borders, history, memory, nations and being. It slides from one original idea into another like remote lovers in a well lubricated orgy of ideas. I don't know if it loses me because I loved The Unbearable Lightness of Being so much more, or if Kundera just failed to grab me by the intellectual shorthairs. I'm almost positive I would probably rate it higher if I had the chance to tease
I didn't laugh. And it was quickly forgotten.Kundera knew how to write. (I speak in the past tense because he is now 90 years old and I wonder how much writing he's doing nowadays.) But he chose to write about things I find it very hard to care about. In this, more than in Unbearable Lightness, he glorifies sex frequently as a rite of passage, and goes on at great length about its incredible significance. The characters are all so literary. So avant-garde, and in this day and age, cliched. There
294. Kniha smÃchu a zapomnÄ›nà = The Book of Laughter And Forgetting, Milan KunderaThe Book of Laughter and Forgetting is a novel by Milan Kundera, published in France in 1979. It is composed of seven separate narratives united by some common themes. The book considers the nature of forgetting as it occurs in history, politics and life in general. The stories also contain elements found in the genre of magic realism. Plot summary: Part One: Lost Letters. Part Two: Mama. Part Three: The Angels.
I don't get it. Why all the hype? I found the characters and their situations absolutely uncompelling. I felt like I was reading a movie treatment, a sketch for a scenario. Flat, jejune. And aside from the opening image of the borrowed hat and it's disgraced, airbrushed-out lender, I found very little that was striking or poetic in the prose itself. I'm a huge fan of Kundera's non-fiction (especially Testaments Betrayed, a lyrically erudite book, with an elucidating defense of Kafka from
0 Comments