The Book of Laughter and Forgetting Part V Summary

Litost

• Who is Kristyna?
• Well, now that you asked...Kristyna is a mother in her 30s who's married to the butcher in her town and is also having an affair with the mechanic. And then there's this student...
• The young student comes to town for the summer to live with his mom. Kristyna notices him checking her out.
• But even though these two are into each other, Kristyna doesn't give in to the student right away. She wants to make it last, you know?
• Also, dude's a learned boy, and he talks to Kristyna about things that no man has ever discussed with her—things like poetry and philosophy. It makes her feel kinda special and awed.
• But it doesn't make Kristyna give in to the student's advances. She wants to keep the relationship on the ethereal side.
• We learn that Kristyna has to be super careful about sex—she's been told that another pregnancy might actually be fatal to her.
• But Kristyna can't bring herself to tell her new young boyfriend about this predicament.
• By the end of the summer, the student hasn't got very far with his new love. Kristyna knows that she'll have to visit him in Prague—and spend the night with him there.
• So, what is litost? It's a Czech word. The meaning gets a bit lost in translation.
• So, instead of defining litost, Kundera gives examples. First, it's the story of the student (Kristyna's lover) who goes swimming one day with his girlfriend (a different one). She's clearly a stronger swimmer than he is, but she doesn't want to hurt his feelings. She keeps pace with him—until she just has to break out and have fun.
• The student tries to keep up with his girlfriend but nearly drowns. He's totally humiliated, and Kundera says that he feels litost at this moment.
• The student's response? He yells at his girlfriend and slaps her face. Badly done, young scholar. But somehow, once he's attacked her, he feels a lot better. Fantastic.
• The second example features the same student. When his parents made him take violin lessons, he refused to follow his master's instructions. If he was criticized, he deliberately played worse to annoy his master. But then he felt litost.
• At this point, Kundera feels he can make up a definition of litost: it's "torment created by the sight of one's own misery."
• Love should fix this feeling, but only if the woman loved by a man is as inferior as he is. If she has abilities above and beyond his, it means that she's had a past without him. Somehow, this is not acceptable. Hey, this is Kundera's thinking—not ours.
• Whenever a male lover is reminded that his ideas about his girl are fantasy, misery happens. And so, therefore, does litost.
• So, once we feel litost, we feel the need for revenge. Misery loves company, right?
• But it's not just about revenge. In order to complete the cycle of litost, our young student has to throw in a cover-up lie. For example, he tells his lady friend that he slapped her out of fear that she'd drown.
• Girlfriend doesn't buy it and chucks the student. He's now into Kristyna because she kind of worships him. She has no intention of trying to "outswim" him in any way.
• Now, who is Voltaire?
• Long story short: Voltaire is one of the student's professors. Kundera gives him the name Voltaire because he shares some of the less admirable traits of the historical Voltaire.
• Voltaire invites the student to a gathering of great minds at the Writers Club. But it also happens to be on the night when Kristyna's going to be in town.
• The student is in a quandary. He really, really wants to hang out with the pretentious literary talent promising to be at the Writers Club, but then again, he hasn't had, uh, female company in a while. He hates himself for it, but he has to turn down Voltaire's invite.
• Kristyna arrives in Prague to meet her lover boy—and he immediately regrets her coming. She looks like a country bumpkin amid the sophistication of the big city.
• Dude's feeling litost big time, especially when Kristyna lights into him for inviting her to a dump of a pub. She expected to be wined and dined.
• The student resents giving up an evening with the greatest poets of his day for a sordid fling with a woman who now doesn't look half as good as the women in Prague.
• The student name-drops the poet of honor who was meant to be at the Writers Club that evening, and Kristyna goes wild. She knows the poet's work by heart.
• Kristyna won't hear of the student missing such an opportunity, so she agrees to wait for him in his awful flat.
• In exchange, the student promises to get the poet to autograph a copy of his work for Kristyna.
• The student meets Voltaire at the Writers Club. Kundera tells us that he's remembering this episode from a great distance of space and time.
• Kundera tells us what the fate of Voltaire will be after the Russians arrive, and it's not pretty: he'll be expelled from the university. But Kundera is reminiscing now; he's talking about the past.
• Kundera decides to call the poet at the Writers Club Goethe and then he populates the club with other late, great poets.
• There's Lermontov, Petrarch, Verlaine, Yesenin, and Boccaccio.
• Just to clarify: these are not the actual poets that are present at the meeting. Kundera is nicknaming them by matching their characters to poets from the past.
• Petrarch is chatting with Boccaccio about women—no shock there, if you're familiar with their work. Petrarch says he could go on for weeks about women and how they dominate men. Goethe says he'll only give him 10 minutes on the subject.
• Petrarch tells the group about an incident that took place at his home the week before. One evening after his wife had taken her bath, a young girl appears and rings their bell.
• Petrarch says that he supports a poetry club at a girls' school and that the young ladies all worship him (snort). This was one of the girls at the door.
• Petrarch doesn't want his wife to see this girl—of course—so he quickly tells her to meet him by the cellar door. He lies to his wife and says that nobody was at the door.
• Petrarch tells his wife that he's going to the cellar for some coal for the fire. She doesn't really buy that since he's been lying about with gallbladder trouble all day.
• The girl says only that she has to see him. Petrarch never finds out more because his suspicious wife has followed him to the cellar.
• In the end, Petrarch is able to tell the girl that they'll have to talk out on the street. He goes upstairs and turns on the bath, thinking it will buy him some time as it fills up.
• Back on the street, Petrarch argues with the girl. (He never reveals the exact nature of their spat.) Petrarch tells her to come back when his wife isn't home, but she insists on seeing him.
• Petrarch knows that the water's running into the bathtub this whole time, and that his suspicious wife is probably about to start poking around again. So, he makes a run for his apartment.
• The girl follows him, and Petrarch barely has time to get inside his apartment and disable the doorbell before she rings it again. And he barely shuts off the tap before he floods the bathroom.
• The girl, however, won't be put off so easily. She's still hovering in the hallway when he checks the peephole for her.
• The poet that Kundera calls Boccaccio has to get in his two cents. He can't believe that Petrarch would encourage women poets; he's a misogynist and proud of it.
• Boccaccio explains that misogyny has nothing to do with hating women; it's really a hatred of stereotyped femininity.
• As such, Boccaccio claims, women can only be happy hooking up with a misogynist. "Worshipers"—like Petrarch, who puts classic feminine traits on a pedestal—are terrible partners as they just move from one object of adoration to the next. Boccaccio cites the story of Petrarch, his wife, and the young girl.
• But Petrarch refuses to be cast as the stereotypical cheating male. He continues his story and tells Boccaccio that he went in to his wife and told her everything that was going on.
• Boccaccio is not impressed; that's just like a "worshiper," in his opinion.
• Petrarch continues his story. He says that his wife takes over and goes out to deal with the girl since he was too afraid to do it himself. Ugh.
• No one is there when his wife steps out into the hall. But a few moments later, it sounds like Armageddon out there. The disgruntled girl is smashing windows with a metal bar.
• The elderly neighbors are tickled by the scene. Petrarch is terrified when the girl finally smashes her way into his bedroom. Now, his wife is officially freaked out.
• But Petrarch now plays the hero of his own story. He confronts the girl, takes away the metal bar, and holds her hand.
• Lermontov doesn't buy Petrarch's story. Surprisingly, Boccaccio sides with Petrarch. The details aren't important, in his opinion.
• "Worshipers" always see their mothers in women, and Petrarch is no different. These types of poets see everything as symbolic of their mothers, according to Boccaccio.
• Yesenin takes offense, thinking that Boccaccio is starting a "yo' mama" fight. He tries to spit on Boccaccio but gets Goethe instead.
• That's all the fight Yesenin has in him.
• Petrarch isn't ready to give up the stage yet. He wants to finish his story. The girl, he says, came to confess her love for him—and all so he would know true love once in his life.
• Ick.
• The poets are not falling for this. But Petrarch says that this isn't just a slapstick Boccaccio-style tale. The girl actually tells his wife that she loves her, too.
• Lermontov can't stand it. He'd prefer funny to saccharine. Petrarch accuses him of being jealous because he'd never had two beautiful women love him.
• Goethe decides to tease Lermontov, too, by telling him that he has "complexes." Voltaire jumps on that bandwagon. He takes it a bit too far, analyzing all of Lermontov's poetry.
• But Goethe decides on the ultimate male insult: he tells the whole group that Lermontov's problem is "hypercelibacy." He's just not hooking up enough.
• This spat between the great poets puts the student in an awkward position. He worships the whole group quite a lot, but he can't help feeling for Lermontov. He really identifies with the poet's enforced celibacy issues—which reminds him that he has to get back to Kristyna, who is waiting for him in his ugly room.
• But the student decides to pee first and winds up side by side with Lermontov in the toilets. Lermontov accuses the other poets of not being subtle. He thinks the student is on their side.
• The student agrees with the wronged Lermontov, who is now insisting that he's proud.
• Back at the table, Lermontov tries to set things right. He claims to be the only poet of the country, next to Goethe. Voltaire accuses him of being a "small man."
• The student decides to take a breath and jump into the spotlight. He defends Lermontov's right to call himself proud. And he does it rather brilliantly.
• The poets agree with the student and praise him.
• Goethe is totally impressed with the student, but the student is absolutely tongue-tied when trying to get in on a one-on-one convo with the great poet.
• The student decides to tell Goethe about Kristyna and how she wants Goethe to autograph his book for her. Goethe digs this. He wants to know more about the student's ladylove.
• The student gives Goethe the whole picture, including the disappointing bits.
• Goethe thinks Kristyna is da bomb because she is a small-town girl. An authentic girl like that is exactly what a poet needs, he says. And then he writes a whole page in Kristyna's book, praising her for the queen that he thinks she is.
• The poets are far past the last call for alcohol at the club, and they get put out on the street. But Goethe isn't very mobile (he has crutches), and he's very drunk. He begs to be left there.
• The poets know, however, that Goethe's shrew of a wife will kill him if he doesn't make it home.
• Lermontov says that Goethe wants to recapture his youth by staying out all night, but he offers to stay with him.
• Voltaire knows, however, that Goethe literally can't walk because of illness.
• So, the poets try to carry Goethe home—but Goethe weighs a lot, and the poets are supremely drunk. They drop him a lot.
• Lermontov keeps the student from helping by chatting him up.
• When the poets finally get Goethe down to the curb, Lermontov tells the student that he's just witnessed a great scene. He proposes to write a poem called "Carrying a Poet" and add it to his current book of poetry. We can't wait to read that one.
• So, now, things stand like this: Verlaine sings on the sidewalk, Yesenin has fallen into a drunken sleep against a building, and Voltaire and Boccaccio dump Goethe into a taxi.
• Petrarch is too afraid of Goethe's wife to go along and calm her down, so Lermontov takes his place. Now, that's a good friend.
• The student is left standing on the sidewalk with Petrarch, but he knows it's time to get back to Kristyna.
• Petrarch compliments the student's ability to listen to others, and the student repeats what Petrarch has said about his girl troubles just to confirm Petrarch's opinion of him.
• The student has so impressed Petrarch that he gets the end of the story: Petrarch's wife let the distraught lover girl stay in their apartment for the night.
• By the time they woke up the next day, Petrarch's very efficient mother-in-law had the broken windows replaced—and the girl was gone. It was like it never happened.
• Petrarch takes the opportunity to explain the difference between one of his stories and those of Boccaccio: his don't necessarily end with a sex joke.
• Petrarch tells the student that a true poet has empathy with others and is able to identify with other people. He believes the student has this ability.
• As he listens to Petrarch, the student once again feels lofty things for Kristyna. All his disgust totally evaporates.
• Petrarch explains that Boccaccio is always jesting—and that laughter makes us lonely people. (Kind of like the irony craze of the '90s and 2000s, right?) Joking, he says, "is the enemy of love and poetry."
• The student is totally into this theory. He's very earnest about things—and he knows that he's absolutely on Petrarch's side.
• Kristyna, meanwhile, has fallen asleep on the student's bed. She'd given up on lover boy after the first few hours.
• Kristyna was also pretty sure that the student didn't get her book signed. She's bowled over by the words Goethe has written to her in the book when she does see them.
• This means Kristyna's ready to forgive the student for neglecting her all night—and so they begin to make love.
• But, of course, Kristyna still has the problem she won't tell the student about: she fears getting pregnant, and she knows he hasn't taken the proper precautions.
• The student can't figure it out, but he thinks that Kristyna is too shy for him to ask her what the heck is going on. So he keeps trying. And she keeps pushing him off.
• Kristyna tells the student that it would kill her to proceed any further. He thinks she's being metaphorical—that she would die of grief if she couldn't continue to be with him.
• But Kristyna is being quite literal.
• Never mind. Though the student is frustrated by her behavior, he's also ecstatically happy with this misunderstanding.
• Still, the student is a young man, and no matter how poetic the whole scene is, he still has his desires. He promises to die with Kristyna.
• Kristyna won't give in, and the student gives up. She reaches over and, uh, holds "the scepter of her love standing up in her honor." Yes, it's exactly what you think.
• And she continues to hold it—just hold it—all through the night. We're not sure how this is physically possible, but there it is.
• As Kristyna prepares to leave on the train, she tells the student the truth about the whole "sex will kill me" thing.
• The student is indignant: how could Kristyna think he would get her pregnant? He's not as stupid as all that. Hmmm, if you're saying that, Mr. Student, we're gonna have to doubt you know how all of this works.
• Even though the student is utterly miffed at the missed opportunity, Kristyna's still on cloud nine. It was a sublime evening: all poetry and high-minded love. None of that physical stuff.
• The student reflects on the waste of an evening in bed with Kristyna. He realizes that if he hadn't been so wrapped up in poetic language, he would have understood things properly.
• As he falls deeper into despair, the student begins to laugh. And with that, litost overtakes him.
• Kundera sums up his illustration of litost for us. A person dealing with litost can either a) lash out at a weaker partner or b) seek revenge on those who are stronger.
• Kundera returns to the earlier scenario involving the student and his violin teacher. Since the student can't avoid his lessons, he plays worse on purpose.
• Kundera continues the fantasy to highlight his point. The teacher goes bonkers and chucks the student out the window—but the student wins because he knows the teacher's going down for murder.
• Kundera suspects that this reaction to litost rules human history. He explains how the Spartans destroyed themselves in this exact way.
• Kundera traces the origins of litost to Bohemia and gives us a rundown of the military and social struggles that shaped the region.
• Back in August 1968, when the Russians occupied the land, Kundera says that litost did the talking for the people.
• The result? Bohemians contributed to their own destruction—"revenge through annihilation" of the self. Charming.
• Back to the student. He really can't vent that litost on Kristyna because she's already gotten on the train. Kundera calls this "litost block." We kid you not.
• Without any outlet for his destructive feelings, the student thinks of Lermontov from the night before and realizes that the poet's behavior was a venting of litost.
• Lermontov had wanted the other poets to tear him to shreds after he'd declared his pride.
• The student finds a love note from Kristyna in his jacket pocket, and it renews his feelings of self-hatred. If only he hadn't been so stupid, he wouldn't be, uh, love-less.
• The student returns to the Writers Club in the hope that he might find Lermontov and crew there. In fact, Lermontov and Petrarch are there, but the student is too shy to approach them. And the poets don't seem to recognize him.
• The student feels very sorry for himself. He drinks cognac.
• Petrarch finally invites the student over, but the student has entered the self-destructive phase of litost. Instead, he leaves Kristyna's love letter on the table and tries to leave.
• Petrarch stops the student from leaving the Writers Club and sits with him at the table where he'd left Kristyna's love letter. The student wants the earth to open up and swallow him.
• Lermontov joins, and Petrarch shares Kristyna's letter with him. He makes the short declaration of love sound like a beautiful poem.
• In fact, Kundera says that the only thing left of this story of botched love is poetry. Kristyna is taking away Goethe's beautiful inscription with her, and now we've got the love letter in the club.
• Petrarch insists that the student admit to being a poet. No one has to twist the student's arm for that.
• The student had been seeking out Lermontov when he was abandoned and feeling the full force of litost block.
• But now that he's been crowned a poet by Petrarch, he's totally forgotten his old mate. Also, Lermontov can't stand triumphant lovers.
• Kundera says that Lermontov has been ruined by the whole "hypercelibacy" thing. The student should empathize, but he can't get over Lermontov's harshness.
• The student and Petrarch leave Lermontov to his litost and loneliness. And, maybe, also to his cognac.