Joke (Milan Kundera's breakthrough work) (Milan Kundera's breakthrough work)

Author: Milan Kundera
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-06-01
Features: The Joke is the breakthrough work that established Kundera's status in world literature. In 1968, after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, The Joke was banned, and for this reason, Kundera lost his position at the film academy. He left Czechoslovakia with his wife in 1975 and came to France. The Joke is Milan Kundera's , published in Czech, which achieved enormous success before being banned, selling out three editions with astonishing print runs, each selling out within days. From then on, his important position in the contemporary literary scene of Czechoslovakia was firmly established. "I also knew very well that once I crossed that line, I would no longer be late, I would become a different person, an unknown person. This terrifying transformation filled me with dread, so I desperately sought love in the midst of intense loss. This love should allow me to continue living in the same love for the past and the present, for I do not want to divide my life in the middle—I want it to flow through from beginning to end. Beyond its mere occurrence, does personal history reveal anything else? Despite my skepticism, I still cling to a sliver of irrational superstition, such as the firm belief that every event that falls upon me has meaning, that it signifies something; and that life, through its own history, speaks to us, gradually revealing a secret, like a cryptogram for us to decipher. The various histories we have experienced together form a myth of life, and within this myth lies the key to unlocking mysteries and truths. Is this illusion? Yet even if it is true, I cannot suppress my desire to continuously unravel the mysteries of my own life."