The Joke

E529625

The Joke is a novel by Milan Kundera that blends dark humor and political critique to explore the personal and ideological consequences of life under a repressive communist regime.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
The Joke canonical 9

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf novel ⓘ
adaptation The Joke (1969 film) ⓘ
author Milan Kundera ⓘ
censorshipStatus banned in Czechoslovakia after 1968 ⓘ
character Helena ⓘ
Jaroslav ⓘ
Kostka ⓘ
Ludvik Jahn ⓘ
countryOfOrigin Czechoslovakia ⓘ
EnglishTitle The Joke ⓘ
explores abuse of power by political authorities ⓘ
limits of humor in authoritarian systems ⓘ
tension between private life and political ideology ⓘ
unreliability of personal narratives ⓘ
filmAdaptationDirector Jaromil Jireš ⓘ
genre historical novel ⓘ
philosophical novel ⓘ
political novel ⓘ
satirical novel ⓘ
hasTranslation English ⓘ
influencedBy Czechoslovak communist politics ⓘ
Stalinist-era repression ⓘ
literaryMovement postmodernism ⓘ
literarySignificance important work of Czech dissident literature ⓘ
one of Milan Kundera's major early works ⓘ
mainTheme ideology and individual freedom ⓘ
irony and misunderstanding ⓘ
life under a repressive communist regime ⓘ
memory and history ⓘ
political persecution ⓘ
revenge and its futility ⓘ
narrativeTechnique multiple narrators ⓘ
nonlinear narrative ⓘ
originalLanguage Czech ⓘ
placeOfFirstPublication Czechoslovakia ⓘ
plotElement a postcard joke leads to political punishment ⓘ
expulsion from the Communist Party ⓘ
forced labor in a penal unit ⓘ
protagonist Ludvik Jahn ⓘ
publicationYear 1967 ⓘ
publisher Czech publishing house Československý spisovatel ⓘ
setting Czechoslovakia ⓘ
settingPeriod early years of communist rule in Czechoslovakia ⓘ
post-World War II era ⓘ
style blend of dark humor and political critique ⓘ
tone darkly comic ⓘ
ironic ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (9)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.