“The Struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.''

THIS novel, published in 1979 in France, by Czech writer Milan Kundera explores the basic human nature of how people tolerate the torture and suffering of which they have no control. People tend to forget their past and we learn nothing from history. This novel even alludes to our Liberation War in 1971 and the torture unleashed by the Pakistani junta.

Actually this book is not a novel but collection of some short stories which have been consolidated according to a common theme. The novel is divided into seven parts. Each part has a unique story of its own. Part one (entitled Lost Letters) deals with the life of Mirek before his imprisonment. Mirek was a supporter of the recently toppled government and has been pursued by the police for his previous activities. It tells us how Mirek had an affair with an 'ugly' woman named Zdena and persuaded her to get the love letters which he wrote to her. Part two (entitled Mama) outlines consensual extramarital affairs of Karel with Eva. When Karel's mother paid a visit to Karel and Marketa, she almost catches three of them on the act but bypassed this as Eva reminds her of a girl from Karel's childhood. This new found information adds fuel to Karel's affairs with Eva. Part three (entitled The Angels) tells us the story of a horoscope writer. Some critics say it is Kundera himself (as he uses code name R.). The story follows after the Russian Invasion of Czechoslovakia. Part four (entitled Lost Letters) describes Tamina's desperate attempt to recover her love letters and diaries which she left behind in Prague. To retrieve her love letters and diaries she got involved in a brief relationship with her customer Hugo. Part five (entitled Litost) portrays Kristyna's relationship with a poetry student. This part describes many literary nicknamed figures such as Voltaire, Goethe and their trivial arguments over trivial matters. This part titled  'Litost' cannot be translated in other words, it's very difficult to define. But it can be read as someone's  weakness at which one cannot take action. Part six (entitled The Angels) is the continuation of Tamina's story whom we met in Part four. Here she has been marooned in an island where she befriended many children with whom she engaged in sensual relationship but gradually it turns out to be hostile relationship. The children united got together and revolted against Tamina. Ultimately she tried to escape but was chased by the children and she drowned in the sea. She heard a laughter before she died. Part seven (entitled The Border) outlines Clevis's family and their debauchery. It appears that Kundera is portraying the truth with a tint of fiction. This novel's characters Mirek, Tamina, Clevis are from our evertyday life. Laughter and forgetting have been brilliantly sketched by Kundera with a tint of satire.

The reviewer is District Information Officer, Joypurhat.