Milan Kundera's Jokes (1): The Punishment of Jokes

Milan Kundera's Joke is a pioneering work of Kundera. It is this book that established its position in the world literary world and brought him a world reputation. Once the book was published, it was published in three editions, printed hundreds of thousands of copies and made into a movie.

It's Xiao He's success, my failure. 1968 In August, Soviet troops occupied Czechoslovakia, and jokes were banned and disappeared from bookstores and libraries immediately. In eastern European countries, except Poland and Yugoslavia, it suffered the same fate. After that, Kundera was expelled from the party, his teaching position in the Film Academy was also dismissed, all his works were removed from the shelves of bookstores and public libraries, and Kundera himself was also banned from publishing any works.

Therefore, jokes have an unusual weight and position in Kundera's literary career.

Today, I want to share a passage from this book with you.

The background of the following passage: Ludwig, the hero, is a careless and joking sophomore, and he has absolute loyalty and enthusiasm for the party. However, due to some jokes he played with his girlfriend, he was expelled from the Party, dropped out of college, and was sent to ostrava, a coal mining city where there was no sunshine and green everywhere, to become a black soldier. Every day, in addition to the drills required by the army, he also goes down to the mine to do coolies.

On this day, everyone rarely has the opportunity to leave the barracks for outdoor exercise. Ludwig left the barracks alone, not with others.

I (Ludwig) have always been depressed. I left alone to avoid others. I took a small train-an old narrow tram, connecting the suburbs of ostrava. I sat aimlessly and let it go anywhere.

Then I got off at random and changed cars at random. The whole suburb of ostrava is endless, with factories and natural scenery, fields and garbage dumps, trees and waste piles, large buildings and small broken houses criss-crossing, which attracts me and makes me extremely puzzled; After I got off the tram at random, I began to wander for a long time: I almost tried my best to look at the strange scenery and try to distinguish its meaning; I thought about it and wanted to give this messy painting a name, which should make it look uniform and tidy.

I passed a hut completely covered with ivy, which was full of poetry and painting. I found this is the right place, in sharp contrast to the high walls with mottled facades nearby, and also in sharp contrast to the shadows of tramcars, big chimneys and blast furnaces behind.

Walking along a hut in a shanty town, I noticed a villa a little further away. Indeed, it is dirty and dusty, surrounded by gardens and iron fences. There is a weeping willow in the corner of the garden, which seems to have been thrown in the wrong place. However, I said to myself, that's why it belongs.

This random collocation makes me very unhappy, because it not only makes me see the same composition of the landscape layout, but more importantly, I find the image of my own destiny, and I also live here.

Of course, it gives me a comfort that my personal history can be reflected in the objective reality of the whole city. I know that I don't belong to this place, just like weeping willows and ivy huts don't belong to this place, just like that short lane made up of messy buildings, and I can't go anywhere. Nothing belongs to this place, and neither do I. This once idyllic place is now an ugly block of low sheds and houses.

From this, I understand that because I don't belong to this place, this place has become my place. My place is in such a confusing and frustrating city, in such a city where unrelated things are ruthlessly clamped down.

In private: It was in this situation, this environment, this depression and despair that Ludwig met the love of his life: Lucy. And Lucy later became his unforgettable pain, which is difficult to cross all his life!