You know, I've owned several copies of that particular book and given them all away to people. I'd really like to read more of his stuff, but I think in the back of my mind that I worry that anything else he's written won't turn me inside out the way Unbearable did, even though I'm assured that his other stuff will not disappoint. Got any suggestions on where I might go next in terms of Kundera's work?
I would love this answered. kleinbl00 recommended The Joke to me about 6 months ago, and I read it in January on a plane trip to Russia (coincidence), but the subjects grappled within were of a different kind than those in The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The Joke is more absurdist, and asks what can life meaningfully strive towards in the face of an authoritative power that defies logic or rationality. Which, to be true, ULoB touches upon. But ULoB also dealt with so much more. I don't think The Joke was limited, but it just dealt with fewer subjects, and I don't mean that as a slight. John Updike said it best, "A... novel with the reach of greatness in it." I never felt the weight of absurdist Soviet policy like I did on that plane ride touching down in Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow early this year (and I slow whistled after learning this was his very first novel). Normally the absurdism of communist central planning comes in the form of satire. But The Joke was more... realistic? life-like? Though it dealt with something that almost demands satire -- an authoritative regime reacting out of political correctness -- I read it is as a serious (if funny in some parts) novel. I may be off base with that, I wonder how bl00 felt after reading it. But The Unbearable Lightness of Being? That book changed my thinking process more than anything else I've read. It may be selfish, but I want more.
Book of Laughter and Forgetting is great. I even liked Identity. I find Kundera's perspective to be insightful and novel and I don't really care what he's talking about. The Joke was not only Kundera's first novel, it has recently come to light that he escaped from Czechoslovakia in exchange for informing on fellow artists. In a way, the Joke is an apologia.
I'm not sure Kundera even cares what he's talking about. I'm pretty sure the scenarios he sets up are just conduits for getting his philosophy across in a more interesting way. I've only read Book of Laughter and Unbearable Lightness, but I found both to be amazing. I definitely plan to read most of his catalog.I find Kundera's perspective to be insightful and novel and I don't really care what he's talking about.