The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
1979 novel by Milan Kundera
The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (Czech: Kniha smíchu a zapomnění) is a novel by Milan Kundera, published in France in 1979. It is composed of seven separate narratives united by some common themes. The book considers the nature of forgetting as it occurs in history, politics, and life in general. The stories also contain elements found in the genre of magic realism.
Publication history
The original title is Kniha smíchu a zapomnění. It was finished in 1978 and was then published in France under the title Le Livre du rire et de l'oubli in 1979. The English translation was first published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf in 1980, and it is credited to Michael Henry Heim. Several sections of the book were printed in The New Yorker. The book was published in Czech by the exile publishing house 68 Publishers Toronto in April 1981.
Plot summary
Part One: Lost Letters
The first section occurs in 1971 and is the story of Mirek, as he explores his memories of Zdena.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting” is 1979 novel by Milan Kundera. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Book, Laughter and Forgetting, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “1979 novel by Milan Kundera” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2723517. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1979, 1978, 1980 and 1981.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.