To fall into dissolution is easv; it’s easiernstill to blame one’s fall on the naturenof the world. In “Babylon Revisited.”nFitzgerald recognized what Ray.nand Hannah, apparently do not, thatnthe one inestimable and irreplaceablenquality for each individual life and eachngeneration is character. In the absencenof character, there is only the moralndissolution, aimlessness and frustratednviolence Ray describes and Hannah sonbrilliantly captures.nJTor those who prefer to say, “Yes,nlife is absurd, but can’t we keep on smilingnanyway, covering over our doubtsnand fears with gala romance and happynlittle self-deceptions.’^” there is iVIilannKundera’s The Book of Laughter andnForgetting, which is about exactly whatnits title suggests: laughter and forgettingnas the only antidotes to the pain ofnconfronting the absurdities of life. Kundera’snbook is actually a chronicle ofnmany things—part autobiography ofnhis years in Czechoslovakia during thencommunist invasions, part a chroniclenof many fantastic events that happen tonmany fanciful characters in the novel,nand part forced and strained philosophizing:nsermonettes amidst depictionsnof the irrationality, the cruelty and evennthe banalitv of human existence.nIn the MailnKundera would like us to believe thatnthis is a “heavy” book which deals withnmany, many issues of great philosophicalncomplexity, when, in fact, it is anconfused book, a pastiche of charactersnwho appear once and disappear, of fancifulnepisodes and realistic ones, of a desirenfor political commentarv togethernwith a decidedly apolitical view thatnnothing very much will change in humannhistory because of the nature ofnman himself.nThe point that Kundera seems to benendeavoring to make is that man mustnboth laugh and forget in order to maintainnhis sanity and his will to go on. Ankey example of this thesis occurs in anscene in which a group of schoolgirlsnis enaaing a bit of dialogue from lonesco’snRhinoceros, a darkly absurdistndrama about what fools human beingsnare. In the midst of the scene, a pranknby one of the schoolgirls sends all ofnthe students and the teacher into galesnof laughter. The laughter becomes sonstrong that soon the teacher and thenstudent actors rise above the floor, floatnon air, and then disappear forever intonthe heavens—a form of glee-inducednAscension. In a not-too-subtle fashion,nKundera seems to be suggesting thatnlaughter is the only remedy which willnraise man above the absurditv of thenThe Whole Truth About Man: John Paul 11 to University Faculties and Students;nedited by James V. Schall. S.J.; St. Paul Editions; Boston, Massachusetts. A collectionnof speeches and homilies given by Pope John Paul II on such subjects as the privilegesnof youth, knowing Christ, the mission of Catholic universities and the problems ofnscience and faith.nChristianity and Politics by James V. Schall, S.J.; St. Paul Editions; Boston, Massachusetts.nA serious, intellectually sophisticated look at the possibilities, theology andndangers of a Christian political theory.nChristianity and Life by James V. Schall, S.J.; Ignatius Press; San Francisco. Ancareful consideration of the Christian, and Catholic, approach to human life and an analysisnof the implications of artificial conceptions.nFaith According to Saint John of the Cross by Karol Wojtyla; Ignatius Press; SannFrancisco. The doctoral thesis of John Paul II, first written in 1948, treating the metaphysicalnand psychological nature of faith in the writings of St. John.nmnChronicles of Culturennnhuman condition. Any rational personnknows, however, that this is a fairy-talenapproach to the very real anguish whichnaccompanies human life. Only in thenminds of novelists do people laughnthemselves above all that threatensnhuman equanimity; only in children’snbooks are such real problems so easilynsolved.nExcept for the scene with lonesco’sndrama, there are very few parts of ThenBook of Laughter and Forgetting innwhich Kundera’s characters are laughing.nMost seem as lost and confused asnthe grotesque characters of Hannah’snRay; most. too. follow Ray’s pattern ofntrying to escape the pain of lonelinessnand personal failure through sexual encountersnand the temporary illusions ofnlustful passion. Neither do the charactersnseem particularly concerned withnforgetting. Most have key incidents inntheir lives which they recall and relive:nmany would prefer their past to theirnpresent. Even Kundera rejects his ownnpremise of the joys of forgetting by writingna book in which he seeks to set thenhistorical record straight. He lambastesnthe communists for erasing history andnrewriting it for their own purposes andnthen presents his own recollections andninterpretations of what occurred duringnthe communist invasions of Czecr’ ;-*vakianand his exile. Funher. he • ~ndetermined that his readers remen.oc:nhistory and its lessons so that the mistakesnof the past will not be repeated.nThe book seems at odds with its thesis,nand consequently much of its directionnis lost. The style of The Book of Laughternand Forgetting is sometimes interesting,nsometimes even enchanting, butnmany sections of the novel are simplyntedious and boring. Poor editing makesnmany books seem more substantial andnsignificant than they are, and Kundera’snnovel is no exception. ‘What is presentednas a chronicle of the post-World ‘War IInera, an exhaustive, probing analysis ofnwhat occurred and why, proves, instead,nto be mere ramblings with occasionalninteresting interstices and a few insightsnof value.n