The Joke

The Joke is Milan Kundera's first novel, originally published in 1967.

Related Topics:
Milan Kundera - 1967

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It is told from the viewpoint of four different narrators (the only of Kundera's novels that does not feature the author himself as narrator); as the novel nears its climax, the point of view shifts at a repeating rate. The novel partly criticizes Communist Czechoslovakia, though Kundera's response to such a reading was, "Spare me your Stalinism. The Joke is a love story." (Preface to The Joke.) A major theme of the novel is History as an overwhelming force that plays jokes on each and all of us.

Related Topics:
Narrator - Communist - Czechoslovakia - Stalinism

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In 1968, The Joke was adapted into a film by Czech New Wave director Jaromír Jire?, but the film was almost immediately banned following the Soviet clampdown on the Prague Spring.

Related Topics:
1968 - Czech New Wave - Jaromír Jire? - Soviet - Prague Spring

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