Research Paper on:
Ionesco's The Rhinoceros, Kundera's The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, Politics and Laughter

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
reader an almost symbolic and humorous look at the condition of mankind. They are novels that perhaps disguise the power of political forces, often oppressive political forces, in the figure  of animals or of specific types of individuals. This is perhaps something clearly seen in obvious plays on political struggle such as Orwells "Animal Farm." And, there are those novels  which seem to offer us real life, in other words non-fiction approaches, that are somehow confusingly mixed with fiction. In "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting" by Milan Kundera we  are presented with a novel that offers political examination in the characters of individuals, characters brought to us in both humorous and serious manners. And, in "The Rhinoceros" we are  offered a look at the political forces through the humorous existence of the rhinoceros. In the following paper we examine each novel separately, examining how each presents us with humor  as well as politics. The paper then presents a comparison and discussion of the two works. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting "With its seven interrelated parts--rich in  story, character, and imaginative range--The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (1978) is the novel that brought Czech-born Milan Kundera his first big international success. Part fairy tale, part literary criticism,  part political tract, part musicology, and part autobiography (as the New York Times described it), The Book of Laughter and Forgetting is, above all, the wonderfully integrated stories of men  and women living in a world of public oppression and private longings, a world in which history may be rewritten overnight and in which love may fall victim to either  political intrusion or personal betrayal" (Anonymous Reading Group Guide: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera, 2002; book_of_laughter_and_forgetting.asp). From this description we can readily understand that Kunderas