The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. by Milan Kundera - 1981.

New York, NY Penguin Books, 1981. Paperback First Edition Thus in USA (1981), not directly stated, but implied by lack of subsequent printings cited, in accordance with Penguin's customary practice at the time of publication. First Edition Thus in USA (1981), not directly stated, but implied by lack of subsequent printings cited, in accordance with Penguin's customary practice at the time of publication. Very Good in Wraps: shows indications of careful use: slight spine lean; light wear to extremities; a faint crease at the backstrip; a tiny nick at the bottom edge of the front panel has been carefully tape-reinforced; mild rubbing and faint soiling to wrapper covers; a small dampstain at the outside edge of the first few pages; the binding remains secure; the text is clean. Free of creases to the panels. Free of any creased or dog-eared pages in the text, but the rear endpaper is creased at the lower corner. Free of any underlining, hi-lighting or marginalia or marks in the text. Free of ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, or labels. A lightly used copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing moderate wear and several minor cosmetic flaws. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. (7.75 x 5.15 x 0.5 inches). 237 pages. Translated from the Czech by Michael Henry Heim. Language: English. Weight: 6.6 ounces. Writers from the Other Europe Series. Trade Paperback. In one of the finer modern ironies of the life-imitates-art sort, the country that Kundera seemed to be writing about when he talked about Czechoslovakia is, thanks to the latest political redefinitions, no longer precisely there. This kind of disappearance and reappearance is, partly, what Kundera explores in The Book of Laughter and Forgetting. In this polymorphous work -- now a novel, now autobiography, now a philosophical treatise -- Kundera discusses life, music, sex, philosophy, literature and politics in ways that are rarely politically correct, never classifiable but always original, entertaining and definitely brilliant.