The Joke (Definitive Version) by Milan Kundera

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The Joke

by Milan Kundera

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1,726	16	1,929	(3.92)	None

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Info:	Penguin (Non-Classics) (1983), Edition: Some Pages Stained, Cover Worn, Paperback
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English (12) French (2) Portuguese (1) Spanish (1) All languages (16)

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Showing 1-5 of 12 (next | show all)

A tremendously subtle book about human relationships, politics, history, & very much more. It impressed me profoundly, the best of three Kunderas I have read so far. (

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marek2009 | Nov 8, 2009 |

When I find authors I love, I seek out their first published books. But, I stumbled across Milan Kundera's first book, The Joke, unexpectedly, unaware that I would become so enthralled. The narrator is funny, serious, honest, and tragic. The premise of this book is original, and disturbingly, wonderful. (

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JenLynnKnox | Oct 11, 2009 |

I hated this book. Didn't enjoy the story or the style of writing. (

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qofd | Jul 11, 2009 |

A student in Soviet-controlled Czechoslovakia makes a joke to impress his girlfriend, a passionate Stalinist, by sending her a postcard - "Optimism is the opium of the people! A healthy atmosphere stinks of stupidity! Long live Trotsky!" – and the impact goes far beyond it’s original intention. This book was originally published in the United States in 1969 in a translation that the author was very unhappy about (Coward McCann). Since that time the book has been reissued twice in new translations, once in 1982 (Harper & Row) and then again in 1992 in a definitive edition (Harper Collins). (

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zenosbooks | Feb 24, 2009 |

one of his best in my mind (

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junevonjune | Dec 6, 2008 |

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Series (with order)

Canonical Title

The Joke (Definitive Version)

Original publication date

1967

1967 (original)

1992 (definitive version ∙ English ∙ fully revised)

1982 (fourth version ∙ English)

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006 Edition)

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

So here I was, home again after all those years. Standing in the main square (which I had crossed countless times as a child, as a boy, as a young man), I felt no emotion whatsoever; all I could think was that the flat space, with the spire of the town hall (like a soldier in an ancient helmet) rising above the rooftops, looked like a huge parade ground and that the military past of the Moravian town, once a bastion against Magyar and Turk invaders, had engraved an irrevocable ugliness on its face.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Please note: The 1st English-language version was translated by Hamblyn and Stallybrass (1969); the 2nd English version was based on Hamblyn and Stallybrass, but "curtailed" (1969, New York, Coward-McCann); the 3rd English version was revised by author (1970, London, Penguin); the 4th English version was translated by Heim and includes a preface by Kundera explaining the previous 3 English versions (1982); and the 5th Definitive Version in English was fully revised by Kundera and translated by Kundera and Asher, based on Heim's previous translation (1992). Definitive Version has "Author's Note" explaining all 5 English-language versions.

The Definitive Version is the 5th version translated into English, which was fully revised by the author. For an explanation of this, see "Author's Note" in the definitive version. Definitive Version was translated by Aaron Asher and Milan Kundera, based on the 4th translation of Michael Henry Heim.

This 4th Version translated into English, is not to be confused with the Definitive Version (5th version, English). For an explanation of this, see "Author's Note" in the definitive version. This 4th Version was translated by Michael Henry Heim.

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Rushdie, Salman

Howe, Irving

Updike, John

▾References

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Wikipedia in English (1)

File:The joke kundera book cover.jpg

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Book description

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Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 006099505X, Paperback)

All too often, this brilliant novel of thwarted love and revenge miscarried has been read for its political implications. Now, a quarter century after The Joke was first published and several years after the collapse of the Soviet-imposed Czechoslovak regime, it becomes easier to put such implications into perspective in favor of valuing the book (and all Kundera 's work) as what it truly is: great, stirring literature that sheds new light on the eternal themes of human existence.

The present edition provides English-language readers an important further means toward revaluation of The Joke. For reasons he describes in his Author's Note, Milan Kundera devoted much time to creating (with the assistance of his American publisher-editor) a completely revised translation that reflects his original as closely as any translation possibly can: reflects it in its fidelity not only to the words and syntax but also to the characteristic dictions and tonalities of the novel's narrators. The result is nothing less than the restoration of a classic.

(retrieved from Amazon Sat, 20 Jun 2009 02:46:17 -0400)

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