Finishing up The Joke

Much like in class on Thursday, I collected some of (what I thought) were meaningful quotes in the last part of our reading. I have written out the quotes and my reactions to them...

1.Vlasta rebukes me for being a dreamer. She says I don't see things as they are. I do see things as they are, but in addition to these visible things I see the invisible. It's not for nothing that fantasy exists. It's what makes home of our houses. -p.144

- I just personally like this quote. It's hopeful to believe in things that are more than material. I especially like the last sentence. Houses are physical places filled with material things but homes have love and companionship, the invisible.

2. Because being brave in solitude, without witnesses, without the reward of others' approbation, face to face with himself, that took great pride and strength. -p.156

- This sort of relates to Havel. In a way Ludvik argues that no matter what, even if it is not popular, you should be brave and live in the truth. But he also says that it's only true if you keep it to yourself - and Havel argues that when you live in the truth you want to inspire others to live that way.

3. Because it's not your enemies who condemn you to solitude, it's your friends. -p.159

- I also just liked this quote. I think essentially it means that your friends are the ones you rely on for company, not enemies. So when your friends desert you, you are left in solitude. If your enemies desert you, you are better off.

4. Once more I was amazed by the incredible human capacity for transforming reality into a likeness of desires or ideals. -p.181

-  True, humans see and hear what they want to see and hear. But it's interesting that Ludvik says this so scathingly about Helena because he does it himself. Particularly when he was younger, with Lucie. He sees thier relationship as loving and he thinks he loves her. I think their relationship is a tie to real life for him, life outside the camp, nothing more. He doesn't love her, he loves the idea of her. But he wants to be in love so he believes he is.

5. "When I first met you, I know right away that you were the one I'd been waiting for all these years."
"You're not a phrase-monger. You wouldn't talk like that if you didn't mean it."
"...the first time I met you, I realized I had been waiting for you for years. That I was waiting for you without knowing you. And I knew that now I must have you. That it was inevitable as fate."

- What Ludvik is saying is true, just not in the way Helena thinks. He's sneaky with his words - a phrase-monger even... He really does want her - but only to get revenge on her husband, not for love. He has been waiting for her, even before he knew her, because he has constantly been searching for a mean of revenge.

6. "Get undressed, Helena," I repeated for the last time. ... She was naked. -p.194

- This reminds me of earlier in the book when Ludvik wanted Lucie to be naked while he was dressed - which ended up turning out oppositely. Now he has his wish and he likes it because Helena is completely vulnerable and he feels as though he possesses her. Ludvik has a mean streak in him and it comes out now because he's reveling in his "revenge" and it is even sweeter if Helena is embarrassed in the process because he loathes her as well as her husband.

7. True religion does not need the favor of secular power. Secular disfavor only strengthens faith. -p.209

- Sometimes making something unpopular makes it popular. Faith is tested in the face of adversity, which strengthens it.

8. Was I thrown out? Driven out? I can't quite say. All I can say for certain is that doubts about me and my convictions started up again. It is true some of my colleagues hinted I could do well to make a public statement along the Atheist lines. ... It would probably have taken very little: a move to defend myself. They certainly would have stood up for me. But I did nothing. -p.234

- This is what Havel is saying about living in the truth. Stick to your convictions even when you face adversity. It is interesting that in this case Kostka does nothing to continue living in the truth - proof that inaction is sometimes as effective as action - just like the greengrocer doesn't put up the signs in his shop.

Class Discussion for 3.13

In class today we focused on the question “What makes art political?” In books and films, often how the characters are portrayed (their beliefs and ideas and also the settings and situations the characters are put in and how they react and deal to them) are what makes the work political. Arts have the opportunity to make their political statements very subtle ways or in outright ways, though subtlety is much less likely to be censored.

Censorship in itself is interesting because it often does the opposite of what it’s supposed to. When something is censored, it is even more popular. Czechoslovakia was very pro-censorship. This gave some art a political meaning, even when the artist did not intend it to be political or the viewers do not see it as political. This makes Communist Czechoslovakia (the censor-ers) their own worst enemy.

I think The Joke is both art with political content and art given a political meaning because of its content. Kundera is interested in humanity and relationships and moral development and his characters just happen to be in political situations, which would suggest that it is given a political meaning after the fact. But The Joke also has political content, as seen through Ludvik leading a bourgeois lifestyle even under Communism and poking fun at the “Baptism” and therefore mocking the regime. It’s political because it’s critical of the current political situation.

We then moved on the truth in art. In this case The Joke, a fictional novel, can still have truth. While characters and situations can be fictional, made-up, the characters’ feelings and reactions can be true in the sense that people Trudy do react and feel that way and can relate. Simply, it represents life the way it is.

Finally we talked about the truth in music. This left me with a question:

If a musical piece has no lyrics, can it still inspire the truth?

A reflection of my blog so far...

For this half of the semester I have been keeping a handwritten journal that includes details from the readings and my thoughts on them. I have tried to find connections between the novels and Havel, focusing on characters in the novel who were either living in the lie or living the truth. There have been many instances where I have been able to make these connections.

As I have gotten the hang of the blog, my posts have been more articulate. I’ve gotten better at editing my personal journal entries to make them more coherent to the readers.  The comments Bill left on my first few posts made me realize that I needed to explain my thoughts because on the blog I am “talking” to someone else, who doesn’t know exactly what is going on in my mind. Hopefully the posts keep getting better: more thought out, articulated clearly, and interesting connections and conclusions from the readings.

Terminal Paradox

I checked out a book from the library entitled Terminal Paradox: The Novels of Milan Kundera. I haven't read much of the text, and only part of it is focused on The Joke, but there were two quotes that jumped out at me. They are as follows:

"Critics have called it a realistic novel because of the way it exemplifies the conditions of Czechoslovak society is the first two decades of the Communist regime." - p 11

This is just like The Miracle Game - both are very realistic and seem like the author is telling a non-fiction story in which he is the main character (less so in The Joke than in The Miracle Game).

"One of the paradoxes of this period was that the victims of Communism were often the very devotees who had helped usher it in." - p 12

Which exactly describes Ludvik, which just adds to the realistic nature of the novel.

An Interview with Milan Kundera

Following is a link to a website that has long interview of Milan Kundera by Olga Carlisle in 1985, if you're interested in learning more about the author.

http://www.kundera.de/english/Info-Point/Interview_Carlisle/interview_carlisle.html

Some Passages from The Joke

"Sometimes (more in sport than from real concern) I defended myself against the charge of individualism..." -spoken by Ludvik on page 33
"...I actually came to believe them because I couldn't imagine (I wasn't bold enough to imagine) that everyone else might be wrong, that the Revolution itself, the spirit of the times, might be wrong and I, an individual might be right." - spoken by Ludvik on page 33

Both of these passages relate directly to some of the sections we've read of Havel. The first passage is interesting because what it states is completely contradictory from what Havel is suggesting people do. Ludvik tries to fight the judgment that he is an individual while Havel strives to convince everyone to embrace their individuality. But Ludvik also strengthens Havel's argument: Ludvik is a member of the Party who hates the thought of individualism. Thus he shows that Havel is speaking the truth - being an individual is a way to rebel against the Party.

The second quotation shoes Ludvik's disbelief that he may be able, as Havel would say, to "live in the truth." He cannot (or is too scared to) believe that he is able to live in the truth because that would mean that all that he currently believes (the Party) is false, and is therefore the lie. I think this mindset probably plagued many Party members at one time or another. It is human nature to experience doubt in things that you have previously taken for granted as being true, in this case the Party. But many choose to not act on the doubt, or choose to believe (in the Party) rather than believe in themselves. People are very receptive to the group mentality especially in circumstances where standing alone can come with bad consequences. We naturally want to fit into the majority rather than stand out as the individual, like Ludvik, because it is safer and more certain. Perhaps it is also significant that Ludvik is a young man. Though he is marked as an individual, he is probably more likely to be swayed by his peers and the authority to be shaped by what he has grown up believing - the Party rule.