
The Joke
'A very beautiful novel.' (Salman Rushdie)
Milan Kundera(Author)
Faber & Faber (Publisher)
Published on 21. August 2000
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-0-571-16693-0 (ISBN)
Description
The debut by author of modern classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being, of which Salman Rushdie said: 'It is impossible to do justice here to the subtleties, comedy and wisdom of this very beautiful novel.'
' A funny, sad, gripping, wise, marvellous book.' Sunday Times
Ludvik returns to his hometown a bitter man with a single aim: to do unto others what has been done to him. Expelled from the Communist Party as a student for a youthful joke, he has spent years exiled to a bleak labour camp. awaiting his chance for revenge on those who betrayed him - and one-time friends, lovers and comrades soon become entwined in his machinations as he devises the perfect plan . . .
Kundera's iconoclastic debut novel was a sensation during the Prague Spring: later banned, it launched his worldwide literary reputation, and its passionate exploration of humour, censorship and individualism is even more powerful over half a century later.
' A funny, sad, gripping, wise, marvellous book.' Sunday Times
Ludvik returns to his hometown a bitter man with a single aim: to do unto others what has been done to him. Expelled from the Communist Party as a student for a youthful joke, he has spent years exiled to a bleak labour camp. awaiting his chance for revenge on those who betrayed him - and one-time friends, lovers and comrades soon become entwined in his machinations as he devises the perfect plan . . .
Kundera's iconoclastic debut novel was a sensation during the Prague Spring: later banned, it launched his worldwide literary reputation, and its passionate exploration of humour, censorship and individualism is even more powerful over half a century later.
More details
Edition
Main - Re-issue
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 29 mm
Weight
279 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-571-16693-0 (9780571166930)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
11/2020
Faber & Faber
€10.99
Available for download
Persons
The French-Czech novelist Milan Kundera was born in the Czech Republic and has lived in France since 1975. He died in Paris in 2023.