Goethe’s divertissement in “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting” by Milan Kundera

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Doklady Bashkirskogo Universiteta. 2016. Volume 1. No. 1. pp. 115-120.

Authors

Ishimbaeva G.*
Bashkir State University
32 Zaki Validi st., 450074 Ufa, Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of artistic reception of universal cultural mythologems in postmodern literature. Using game-like narration, Milan Kundera dismantles popular stereotypical perception via his divertissement representation of Goethe in “The Book of Laughter and Forgetting” (1978). The writer presents a caricature of trivialized Goethe and acts as a real postmodernist, who reconsiders familiar modes of mass perception while playing with sense and traditions.

Keywords

  • Kundera
  • Goethe
  • divertissement
  • artistic reception
  • game
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