Joke -- A series of works by Milan Kundera

Author: Milan Kundera (Author); Cai Ruoming (Translator)
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. As a result, Kundera lost his position at the film academy, and he and his wife left Czechoslovakia in 1975 and moved 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, Kundera's significant position in the contemporary literary scene of Czechoslovakia was firmly established. I also know very well that once I cross that line, I am no longer myself, but become someone else—a person of unknown identity. This terrifying transformation fills me with fear, so I have been desperately seeking love in the midst of intense loss. This love should allow me to continue living in the same love and ideals of the past and present, because I do not want to divide my life in the middle; I want it to be consistent from beginning to end.
Does personal history, beyond its own occurrence, reveal anything else? Despite my skepticism, I still retain a touch of irrational superstition, such as my firm belief that every event that befalls me has meaning, indicating 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? It may even be entirely real, but I cannot suppress my desire to continuously unravel the mysteries of my own life.