L’enjeu du jeu dans Risibles amours de Milan Kundera

M.A. (French)Milan Kundera is known for being almost obsessive in guarding his privacy, and in the manner in which he controls any translations of his writings. Despite such strictures, the works of this former exile from Czechoslovakia, who now resides in France and writes in French, have been translated and disseminated to a worldwide audience of readers. It is not only his fictional writings which have earned him kudos, but also his ventures into non-fiction, viz. literary criticism. Having April 1st as a birth date was to have a dramatic impact on Kundera, who later declared that this significant date, which is frequently associated with humorous pranks, pushed him to assume the role of philosophical fool in his writings. It is the different manifestations of games which come under scrutiny in this study, as represented in the seven short stories which make up the anthology Laughable Loves (Risibles Amours). Following an investigation of the differences between ancient and modern perception of what qualifies as ‘play’ or ‘games’, the games theories of reputed authors such as Johan Huizinga, Roger Caillois and Stuart Brown are used to form the theoretical basis of this part of the study. The research is further augmented by Eric Berne’s theory on the psychology underlying the games people play, as it manifests in interpersonal relationships. However, no study of games would be complete without investigating the dark side of play, when the game is corrupted through the actions of the players, referees or spectators, or when what starts as a battle of wills spirals into what could best be described as war games. In the pages of this anthology the reader is introduced to various characters who dare to think they can manipulate other people or events, but end up being played by those very people, or by circumstances beyond their control