In The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, we see women mostly through male eyes. Male gaze, anyone? Kundera is well aware of the irony of this situation, and he totally pokes fun at both sides of the equation. Sure, he laughs at feminism, but he also laughs at dinosaurs like Jan and Karel.
Kundera sets Petrarch and Boccaccio against each other on the issue of femininity. Both have pretty laughable points of view. One says women should defy stereotypes of feminine behavior and not do those irritating things, like be all emotional and needy, that women traditionally do. The other says that women should remain on their pedestals and be soft, gorgeous, accommodating, and occasionally cruel. Women should be muses for male poets.
But Kundera also balances these poets with strong female characters who have their own ideas about how to do femininity. Eva and Marketa find the value of seeking pleasure for themselves; Edwige reforms the male gaze simply by gazing (and talking) back.
In the end, the men don't get it, but it doesn't matter. We're left with a world that will remain deeply divided on many levels.
Questions About Women and Femininity
- What does Kundera mean when he says that "women gaze badly"?
- What expectations of women and femininity does Kundera address in this work? How does he address them?
- How does Kundera characterize women's sexuality? How does he depict men's responses to it?
- What roles do female characters play in The Book of Laughter and Forgetting?
Chew on This
Women do not gaze badly; it's men who are playing the wrong game.
Kundera's attempt at creating unconventional women relies heavily on stereotypes.