The Joke (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Milan Kundera
- First Published: 1967
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Comic realism
- Time of Work: 1947-1966
- Setting: Czechoslovakia
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction
- Subjects: 1950’s, 1960’s, Communism or communists, Politics, Prisoners, Love or romance, 1940’s, Revenge, Folklore, Jokes, Czechoslovakia or Czechoslovakians
- Locales: Czechoslovakia
Characters Discussed
Ludvik Jahn, a student in Communist Czechoslovakia. Ludvik is a cheerful and fun-loving man who learns the hard way how to appraise people and political behavior. At the university in Prague, he develops a crush on a dour fellow student, Marketa, and to shock and amuse her, he sends her a postcard reading, “Optimism is the opium of the people! A healthy atmosphere stinks of stupidity! Long live Trotsky!” This joke is taken seriously; already suspected of individualistic tendencies, Ludvik is expelled from the university and Party and sent to an army...
[The entire page is 884 words long]
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