by Milan Kundera (Author), Aaron Asher (Translator), Milan Kundera (Author), Aaron Asher (Translator)
Commissioned and closely monitored by Milan Kundera himself, this new translation brings a clarity and unmatched fidelity to the author's original text. Widely held as a work of genius, "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting" is the novel that first brought him to the forefront of the international literary scene. Rich in stories, characters and imaginative range, it was written while Kundera was still forbidden to publish in his home country of Czechoslovakia, which was then behind the Iron Curtain. In seven wonderfully integrated parts, different aspects of modern existence -- from the posthumous erasure of "enemies" of communism from the historical record, to the subtle agony of the fading memory of a lost love, to the bizarre sexlessnes of modern promiscuity -- are explored with boldness, subversive humor and the magical power of fiction.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Edition: Main
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 20 May 1996
ISBN 10: 057117437X
ISBN 13: 9780571174379
Book Overview: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera is the most secret of the acclaimed Czech writer's novels. This new translation is the first to be fully authorized by Milan Kundera.