The nature of laughter and the comic in Milan Kundera’s novel “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting”

UDC 82-31
DOI 10.20339/PhS.2-26.140

Pulatova Diyora F.,

Candidate of Philology,

Teacher of the Linguistics and English Literature Department

Uzbekistan State University of World Languages (Tashkent, Uzbekistan)

e-mail: pdiyora@inbox.ru

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5509-9584

The article explores the nature of laughter and the comic in Milan Kundera’s novel “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting” within the framework of literary analysis. The study aims to identify the author’s unique interpretation of laughter as both an aesthetic and philosophical category and to compare it with classical theories of the comic. The methodological basis includes works by Russian and international scholars (Aristotle, Hobbes, Kant, Hegel, Bergson, Bakhtin, Propp, Critchley, and others), as well as Kundera’s own statements revealing his authorial perspective. The analysis demonstrates that laughter in Kundera’s artistic universe has an ambivalent nature and represents a central place in his work.

Keywords: Milan Kundera, “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting”, laughter, the comic, memory, forgetting, existential pain, philosophical category

            References

1. Weeks, M. Milan Kundera: a modern history of humor amid the comedy of history // Journal of Modern Literature. 2005. Vol. 28. No. 3. P. 115–132.

2. Hong, J. Voice, writing and the Kunderan Comedy of failed finitude. 2012. URL: https://scholar.google.com] (08.09.2025).

3. Ricard, F. Milan Kundera: A writer’s life. HarperCollins, 2003. 464 p.

4. Matonoha, J. Milan Kundera and the experience of political Trauma // Modern Czech literature: Writing in times of political Trauma / ed. A.M. Drozd. London; New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023. P. 145–168.

5. Wirth, J. Remembering Milan Kundera and the laughing god // Remembering Milan Kundera. 2024. https://doi.org/10.5040/9798765109496.ch-1

6. Čulík, J. Mystification as an artistic strategy in Milan Kundera’s work. Vernon Press, 2018. 210 p.

7. Tragicheskoe i komicheskoe v rasskazakh Milana Kundery: sb. st. Mos-cow: Institut mirovoi literatury, 2011. S. 35–48.

8. Zapeka, O.A., Fenomenova, L.V. Fenomen identichnosti: kul'turologicheskii analiz sochinenii P. Rikera i M. Kundery // Vestnik slavianskikh kul'tur. 2023. No. 70. S. 153–161.

9. Stefanskii, E.E. Binarnaia oppozitsiia «Ďáblův smích» (‘d’iavol’skii smekh’) — «Andělův smích» (‘angel’skii smekh’) v romane M. Kundery «Kniga smekha i zabveniia» // Vestnik Samarskoi gumanitarnoi akademii. Seriia: Filosofiia. Filologiia. 2016. No. 1 (19). S. 142–153.

10. Bezrukov, A.N. Dialog khudozhestvennykh soznanii kak verifikatsiia es-teticheskikh koordinat (Ivan Bunin — Milan Kundera — Karlos Kastaneda — Viktor Pelevin) // Filologiia i chelovek. 2018. No. 3. URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/dialog-hudozhestvennyh-soznaniy-kak-ve... (15.09.2025).

11. Aristotel. Poetika / per. V. Appelrot. Moscow: Nauka, 1997. 256 s.

12. Gobbsm T. Chelovecheskaia priroda (Human Nature) / per. S. Tiutcheva. Moscow: Mysl’, 1991. 254 s.

13. Stendal’. O liubvi. Moscow: Pravda, 1988. 304 s.

14. Kant, I. Kritika sposobnosti suzhdeniia / per. N. Gartmana. Moscow: Nauka, 1994. 452 s.

15. Gegel, G.V.F. Estetika: v 4 t. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1971.

16. Bergson, A. Smekh. Esse o znachenii komicheskogo / per. G. Gurevicha. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1998. 192 s.

17. Bakhtin, M.M. Tvorchestvo Fransua Rable i narodnaia kul’tura Sred-nevekov’ia i Renessansa. Moscow: Khudozh. lit., 1965. 526 s.

18. Dzemidok, B. O komicheskom / per. V.G. Kuznetsovoi. Moscow: Pro-gress-Traditsiia, 2011. 312 s.

19. Propp, V.Ia. Problemy komizma i smekha. Leningrad: Iskusstvo, 1976. 318 s.

20. Bevis, M. Comedy: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. 152 p.

21. Critchley, S. On humour. London: Routledge, 2015. 160 p.

22. Morreall, J. Comic relief: A comprehensive philosophy of humor. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. 298 p.

23. Kundera, M. Kniga smekha i zabveniia / per. s chesh. N.M. Shulginoi. Moscow: Inostranka, 2022. 318 s.

24. Carroll, N. Humour: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford Universi-ty Press, 2014. 160 p.

25. Kundera, M. The art of fiction No. 81 // The Paris Review. 1984. URL: https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2977] (10.09.2025).