The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

Kristyna is a married woman in her thirties. She is the local butcher’s wife but is also having an affair with the town mechanic. When a young student comes home for the summer to live with his mother, Kristyna notices his attentions and is intrigued. Though drawn to him, she does not give in quickly. Instead, she prolongs the affair by keeping it on an intellectual level. The student impresses her by speaking of poetry and philosophy, which are subjects that no man has ever discussed with her before. Kristyna holds back from physical intimacy—in part because she has been warned that another pregnancy could be fatal, and in part to preserve the uniqueness of their relationship. Unable to confess this to the student, she leaves him confused about her reluctance. The summer passes without much progress in their affair, but Kristyna plans to meet the student in Prague and spend the night with him there. 

At this point, the narrator interrupts the narrative to explain the Czech word “litost.” He avoids defining it directly, instead offering examples of its usage. In one, the student swims with his girlfriend (not Kristyna), who is clearly a better swimmer than him. Out of kindness, she matches his pace until she breaks away for fun. The humiliated student struggles to keep up and nearly drowns. Overcome with shame, he feels litost. In a fit of misplaced pride, he slaps his girlfriend. Paradoxically, this act eases his pain. The narrator’s second example is of the same student refusing to follow his violin teacher’s instructions. When criticized, his playing worsens, and he once again feels litost. From these stories, the narrator defines the word as “torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery” (167). Love can alleviate the feeling, but only if the woman seems inferior or dependent; if she is superior, her independence produces unbearable humiliation. Once litost arises, it tends to provoke a feeling of revenge, followed by a cover-up lie. This pattern helps explain much of the student’s behavior. His girlfriend broke up with him after he slapped her; now, he is interested in Kristyna because of her apparent reverence for him. Kristyna, the student believes, would never try to outswim him.

Yet when Kristyna comes to Prague, the student feels acute litost again. He has been invited to the Writers Club by his professor, whom the narrator nicknames Voltaire, on the very night Kristyna arrives. Torn between high literary company and the chance of intimacy, he reluctantly chooses Kristyna. When she appears “provincial” in the sophistication of Prague, he resents not going to the club. Their evening begins badly, with Kristyna scolding him for taking her to a shabby bar. When he mentions that a famous poet of honor is at the club, Kristyna is thrilled, knowing the man’s work by heart. She insists he go, promising to wait for him in his dingy apartment. The student offers to get the poet to sign a book in return for her waiting.

The student attends the Writers Club, which the narrator populates with characters modeled after great poets of the past: Goethe, Lermontov, Petrarch, Verlaine, Yesenin, and Boccaccio. Their conversations dramatize their views on love, women, and poetry. Petrarch tells a long story about a girl who appeared at his house, leading to comic and chaotic consequences. Boccaccio mocks him for idolizing women, insisting that misogyny is more honest. Their quarrel escalates and the poets hurl accusations and insults at one another, with Goethe and Voltaire joining in. Lermontov, humiliated by their ridicule and accusations of “hypercelibacy” embodies litost, masking his wounded pride with declarations of superiority. The student sympathizes with him, seeing his own frustrations mirrored.

Eventually, the student captures Goethe’s attention. Tongue-tied at first, he tells him about Kristyna’s devotion and her wish for an autograph. Goethe is charmed by the authenticity of a small-town woman and writes a glowing tribute in her book. As the night ends in drunken chaos, the student recalls Kristyna waiting for him. He returns to her, full of renewed admiration. She is touched by Goethe’s words and forgives the student’s neglect. They begin to make love, but Kristyna resists, terrified of pregnancy. The student mistakes her protests and persists until she stops him. Finally, she spends the night holding his penis in a symbolic embrace without consummation. The next day, as she leaves by train, she confesses that pregnancy would endanger her life. The student feels deceived and frustrated at the missed opportunity. Kristyna, however, is elated, cherishing the night as one of sublime love and poetry.

For the student, the evening represents disappointment and humiliation. He broods over his failure and falls into litost. Without Kristyna present, he has no one to lash out against. The narrator terms this paralysis “litost block.” To escape it, he recalls Lermontov, whose prideful outbursts at the club were a form of catharsis. Finding Kristyna’s love letter in his pocket only deepens his self-hatred. He returns to the Writers Club, where Lermontov and Petrarch are present but do not recognize him. Feeling invisible, he drinks heavily. As he is about to leave, Petrarch finally draws him into conversation. The student has left Kristyna’s letter on the table. Petrarch reads it aloud, treating it “as if it were verse” (211), and insists that the student is a poet. Flattered, the student forgets his sympathy for Lermontov, who remains bitter and alone.