The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
First English edition (publ. Knopf)
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| Author | Milan Kundera |
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| Original title | |
| Translator | Michael Henry Heim |
| Country | Czechoslovakia |
| Language | Czech |
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Publication date
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1979 |
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Published in English
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1980 |
| Pages | 320 |
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (Czech: ) 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 Magical Realism.
The original title is: . It was finished in 1978 and was then published in France under the title: Le Livre du rire et de l'oubli in 1979. The English translation was first published in the U.S.A. by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. in 1980, and is credited to Michael Henry Heim. Several sections of the book were printed in The New Yorker. The book was published in Czech by the exile publishing house 68 Publishers Toronto in April 1981.
The first section occurs in 1971 and pertains to the story of Mirek, a former supporter now found to be treasonous, as he explores the depths of his memories pertaining to one woman named Zdena. In his attempt to better his life, knowing that he loved the ugly woman left a blemish, and it was his hope to rectify this through destroying love letters that he had sent her. While he travels to her home and back, he is followed by two men, one of whom is described as "a man in a gray jacket, white shirt and tie, and brown slacks." The men make their intentions obvious, even so far as sharing a laugh with Mirek when he manages to lose their tracking thanks to a sports car. Mirek is arrested at his home after several items are confiscated and then sentenced to jail for six years, his son to two years, and ten or so of his friends to terms of from one to six years.
Kundera also describes a photograph from 21 February 1948, where Vladimír Clementis stands next to Klement Gottwald. When Vladimír Clementis was charged in 1950, he was erased from the photograph (along with the photographer Karel Hájek) by the state propaganda. This short example from Czechoslovak history underlines the motif of forgetting in his book.
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