Literature Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Literature Review - Essay Example Kundera shows himself both as a talented historian and psychologist. In well-structured, enchanting manner Kundera entraps his readers in the worlds of his novels. His creative works is a sign of ideological struggle of Czech intellectuals in the age of Stalinism. Kundera was a Communist himself when this ideology was born, but very soon he was expulsed from the Party and his career was threatened because of his innocent joke. From that moment Kundera in his novels used jokes, irony and sarcasm in order to show how innocent trifle can ruin lives. This research paper is focused on his two novels â€Å"The Joke† and â€Å"The Book of Laughter and Forgetting†. On the examples of these two works a transformation of Kundera from a scrutinizer of the past to a sarcastic mocker of the past is shown. Dualistic manner of Kundera’s writing is shown as a basis for his novels. Thus the writer talks about the past and the present; he shows realistic and nonrealistic main characters; depicts the gap between heroes’ beliefs and realities etc. His manner of writing is bipolar; in such a way Kundera supposedly wants to show the ambiguity of human lives. This ambiguity was well-discerned on the example of the age of Stalinism. People had to think and act in one way in their daily life, but in their conscious, hearts and souls they lived other lives. Destructive force of Stalinism is shown on the examples of Kundera’s main characters of these two main novels. Ludvik, Helena, Mirek, Tamina and others were destructed by the huge ‘Communist slaughter’. In order to assess their essence, analyze their past, these characters wander between self-analysis and revenge, between accusing them and the history of their lost lives. In these tragic turbulences echoes a destiny of Kundera. Therefore while reading these two novels it is possible to reveal the curtain of mysterious genius of