The novel was published in 1968 and appears as polyphony of 4 narrative voices – Ludvik, Helena, Jaroslav and Kotska. The characters and situations described in the novel were representations of Czechoslovakian society during its first twenty years of communism (1947-65). The novel subverts Karl Marx’s saying that religion is the opium of people. Kundera replaces it saying that ‘optimism is the opium of the people, a healthy atmosphere stinks and long live Trotsky’ thus questioning the authority of the Stalinist regime. The work gives a satirical account of the nature of totalitarianism in the communist era. However Kundera refuses to consider his work as a political commentary. According to him, the condemnation of totalitarianism does not deserve a
The novel was published in 1968 and appears as polyphony of 4 narrative voices – Ludvik, Helena, Jaroslav and Kotska. The characters and situations described in the novel were representations of Czechoslovakian society during its first twenty years of communism (1947-65). The novel subverts Karl Marx’s saying that religion is the opium of people. Kundera replaces it saying that ‘optimism is the opium of the people, a healthy atmosphere stinks and long live Trotsky’ thus questioning the authority of the Stalinist regime. The work gives a satirical account of the nature of totalitarianism in the communist era. However Kundera refuses to consider his work as a political commentary. According to him, the condemnation of totalitarianism does not deserve a