Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- Why is control over the past more important than control over the future?
- In what ways is "weightiness" a good thing? In what ways is it a drag?
- How is it possible that laughter could be bad for society?
- How is the structure of Kundera's novel particularly appropriate for his thematic concerns?
- How does the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia use its power to control the past? What is the purpose of doing such a thing?
- What role does Kundera himself play in this work? How does his narrative style affect the purpose of the storylines?
- Which characters seem sympathetic? Why? Which seem reprehensible? Why?
- How does Kundera define masculinity in this novel? How does he represent femininity?
- What is the relationship, if any, between love and sex in this novel?
- What is the role of sexual violence in The Book of Laughter and Forgetting?