The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera

Author:Milan Kundera [Kundera, Milan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Fiction, General, Literary
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 1981-10-23T13:00:00+00:00

Who Is Voltaire?

Voltaire is a lecturer at the university, a witty and aggressive young man whose eyes glare maliciously into the faces of his adversaries—reason enough for his nickname.

He liked the student, which was no mean distinction; he was very particular about the company he kept. One day, after a seminar, he went up to the student and asked if he was free the following evening. Too bad, the very time Kristyna was due to arrive. It took the student all the courage he could muster to tell Voltaire he was busy. But Voltaire wouldn’t hear of it. “You can put it off, can’t you? You won’t regret it.” Apparently the best poets in the country were getting together at the Writers’ Club, and Voltaire, who would be there too, wanted the student to meet them.

And yes, the great poet whom Voltaire was writing a monograph on, the one he was always going to visit—he would be there too. He was ill and walked on crutches, so he was hardly ever seen in society, and the chance to meet him was all the more valuable

The student knew the work of all the poets taking part, and had memorized entire pages by the great poet. Nothing would have pleased him more than to spend an evening in their company. But then he remembered he hadn’t slept with a woman for months, and told Voltaire again he would not be able to make it.

Voltaire refused to accept the idea that anything could be more important than meeting great men. A woman? Couldn’t it be postponed? His glasses were alive with sparks of irony. But all the student could see was the butcher’s wife slipping out of his hands that whole month, and hard as it was to do, he shook his head. Kristyna meant as much to him at that moment as all his country’s poetry.

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