The Book of Laughter and Forgetting: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Book of Laughter and Forgetting" by Milan Kundera intricately weaves together the lives of various characters against the backdrop of Czechoslovakia's tumultuous political landscape during and after the Prague Spring. The narrator, Kundera himself, provides commentary on both the literary process and the historical context that shapes his characters' experiences. Notably, Mirek, a former intellectual and activist, struggles with his past relationships, particularly with Zdena, who embodies a stark contrast to his ideals through her loyal support of the Communist regime.
Other significant characters include Karel, who grapples with familial guilt and infidelity, and his wife Marketa, who navigates the complexities of trust and jealousy in their marriage. Tamina, an exile haunted by her late husband’s memory, and Hugo, her unwitting admirer, represent the emotional toll of displacement. Kundera also introduces figures like the student and Krystyna, whose romantic entanglements illustrate youthful desires amidst societal constraints. Through these characters, the novel explores themes of memory, love, and the often-painful intersection of personal and political identity, inviting readers to reflect on the nature of laughter and forgetting in the face of adversity.
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Milan Kundera
First published: Le Livre du rire et de l'oubli, 1979 (English translation, 1980)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Czechoslovakia and France
Plot: Political
Time: 1968 through the 1970's
Milan Kundera (mee-LAHN kewn-DEH-rah), who acts as the narrator. He comments freely about the act of writing, about his own life, about his characters—some of whom are based on real people and some of whom are frankly imaginary—and about the history and fate of his native country, Czechoslovakia.
Mirek (MEE-rehk), a well-known intellectual and television personality, actively involved in the Prague Spring reforms, a campaign of openness, relative freedom, and rich cultural activity initiated in response to long years of Communist oppression in Czechoslovakia. With the invasion in 1968 of Russian tanks and 500,000 Russian troops, the Prague Spring was crushed. Some half a million supporters of the Prague Spring—Mirek among them—are pushed out of their jobs or arrested, and some 120,000 Czechs leave the country as exiles. As the novel opens, Mirek is attempting to recover his youthful love letters, which he wrote to Zdena, who is now, as always, a fervent supporter of Communist rule and the Russian state. Returning from his unsuccessful attempt to recover the letters, Mirek is arrested in his apartment. He, his son, and many of his friends are put on trial and imprisoned for antistate activities.
Zdena, who twenty-five years previously was Mirek's lover. An ugly woman, Zdena has never forgiven Mirek for leaving her and has transformed her unrequited love into an unwavering political loyalty to the state and the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
Karel, who is married to Marketa. He has long lived by the slogan, “As far from Mother as possible.” Now that his father has died and his mother is old and alone, however, he feels pangs of guilt and so invites her for a week's visit. Dissatisfied with the sexual restrictions attendant on monogamy, Karel develops a sexual relationship with Eva and convinces her to befriend his wife, Marketa. As the story opens, Marketa has invited Eva for a visit that coincides with that of Mother, who overstays her welcome.
Marketa, Karel's devoted but jealous wife. She has invited Eva, whom she believes she met first and introduced to her husband, to spend the day with her and Karel. A ménage à trois ensues.
Mother, an old woman who has trouble keeping her memories straight. Asked to stay only until Saturday, she pretends to have misunderstood and stays until Monday and thus is present for Eva's visit and for some strange goings-on.
Eva, a tall, slender, and sexually adventurous young woman, interested only in friendship and sensuality.
Madame Raphael, a teacher of a summer-school course for foreigners in a small town on the Riviera. She has asked her students to present an analysis of Eugène Ionesco's play Rhinoceros.
Gabrielle and Michelle, American students in Madame Raphael's class. For comic effect, they dress up as rhinoceroses, wearing cardboard cones on their noses as they present their analysis.
R., a shy, delicate, and intelligent editor of an illustrated Prague weekly for young people. She has asked Milan Kundera, who has lost the privilege of working after the Russian occupation, to write an astrology column under a pseudonym. Interrogated by the secret police and compelled to reveal Kundera's identity, she warns him, and he leaves the country.
Tamina, a thirty-three-year-old widow who works as a waitress in a small café in a small Western European town. A Czech exile, she tries to recover memories of her dead husband, who was fired from his job after the Russian invasion. Denounced and slandered after leaving the country, Tamina's husband dies. Unable to return to Czechoslovakia, Tamina tries unsuccessfully to have her cruel mother-in-law in Prague send her old love letters and notebooks.
Hugo, a café regular, a young writer with bad breath who has published only one article. He tries repeatedly but unsuccessfully to impress Tamina, whose mind seems always to be elsewhere.
The student, a young, romantic, and sexually frustrated young poet and student of poetry who conceives a passion for a butcher's wife. Inviting her to spend the night in his Prague attic apartment, the student learns that he in turn has been invited the same night to the Writers' Club, where the country's best poets will meet. Faced with this painful dilemma, he tries to work out a compromise.
Krystyna (krih-STEE-nah), a woman in her thirties, a butcher's wife who has occasional extramarital encounters with a mechanic. Swept off her feet by the charmingly shy student, Krystyna agrees to meet him in Prague.
Voltaire (vohl-TAYR), Goethe (GUH-tuh), Lermontov (LYAYR-mon-tof), Yesenin (yihs-YAYN-yihn), Petrarch (PEE-trahrk), Boccaccio (bohk-KOT-choh), and Verlaine (vehr-LEHN), the names ironically given to the famous poets who argue about women and poetry as they get drunk at the Writers' Club in Prague.
Raphael, an angel who guides Tamina to a boat that takes her to a children's island.
Edwige, the frankly sexual, feminist lover of Jan.
Jan, a forty-five-year-old man who is leaving the country. Before he goes, he wishes to explore the borders of sexuality; he finds sexuality without borders to cross exhausting.
Passer, a tenacious lover of life and of humankind. He is terminally ill but is a table-pounding optimist to the end.
Barbara, a middle-aged woman who presides impatiently at the orgies she throws at her home for twenty or so invited guests.