Tragikomikk, relativitet og kjærlighet. Om Milan Kunderas Latterlige kjærlighetshistorier

Abstract

There seems to be a certain tragicomical light encompassing Milan Kunderas Laughable Loves (1970). However this feature, quite easy to spot, is somewhat hard to describe. This problem is caused by the tragicomical phenomenon´s inherent principle of relativity, it is something doubleedged and therefore, in its nature, evasive. According to Milan Kundera, as is presented in his essays about the art of the novel, and the russian theorist Mikhail Bakhtin, the novel as genre is also based on a priciple similar that of relativity. Coincidentally Kunderas collection of shortstories, Laughable Loves, seems to have a certain novelish touch about it, and because of this it seemed to be an interesting task trying to read it as if it was a novel, based on the book´s thematic network. Founded on these ideas this work´s main purpose has turned out to be an exploration of the tragicomical in Kunderas Laughable Loves and an attempt to read this book as a novel based on thematic coherence.