Laughable Loves
First edition (Czech) | |
| Author | Milan Kundera |
|---|---|
| Original title | Směšné lásky |
| Translator | Suzanne Rappaport |
| Genre | Short story |
| Publisher | Československý spisovatel |
Publication date | 1969 |
Published in English | 1974 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Laughable Loves (Czech: Směšné lásky) is a collection of seven short stories by Milan Kundera which mix the extremes of tragedy with comic situations in (mostly romantic) relationships. The book was introduced to Western audiences in 1975, when American writer- Philip Roth, chose to include the collection of short stories in his series of writing from Eastern Europe titled "Writers from the Other Europe".[1][2]
Roth characterises the stories as having "a distinctive narrative turn toward erotic play, comic analysis, and extended philosophical speculations."[2]
Stories
- "Nobody Will Laugh"
- A young professor loves to play mind-games with people he deems inferior. After putting off reviewing the work of an aspiring (and hopeless) scholar, he loses the young woman he was involved with, directly after realizing he loved her.
- "The Golden Apple of Eternal Desire"
- Two middle-age men flirt with many girls and proposition them. One of the men is married to a woman he loves, and the other would rather read a book.
- "The Hitchhiking Game"
- A couple plays a role-playing game which initially excites them but then later scares one and repulses the other.
- "Symposium"
- The first of two stories involving the character Dr. Havel, this is set in the hospital with several other doctors and a nurse. Dr. Havel is known for his multitudes of sexual exploits, and the nurse is interested in him, but he rejects her.
- "Let the Old Dead Make Room for the Young Dead"
- A woman visits her husband's grave in a cemetery only to find out that it has been removed in the favor of another grave that of a man who had died 'more recently.' This impacts upon her life as a person and is a major factor when she goes to visit a former lover.
- "Dr. Havel After Twenty Years"
- The second Dr. Havel story takes place ten years after "Symposium," when Dr. Havel feels less powerful and attractive, yet is reminded of his attractiveness by his young, beautiful wife.
- "Eduard and God"
- A young man called Eduard has a religious girlfriend but he personally has to stay away from religion because of his job in a school. It makes for difficult times for him when he is seen with his girlfriend at a church.
References
- ^ Linklatter, John (26 May 1984). "Sex in the pseuds' Kundera". The Glasgow Herald. p. 11. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
- ^ a b Goodman, Brian K. (2015). "Philip Roth's Other Europe: Counter-Realism and the Late Cold War". American Literary History. 27 (4): 725. doi:10.1093/alh/ajv046. ISSN 0896-7148. JSTOR 43817726 – via JSTOR.