The first novel by author of modern classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being, of which Salman Rushdie wrote: 'It is impossible to do justice here to the subtleties, comedy and wisdom of this very beautiful novel.' All too often, this brilliant novel of thwarted love and revenge miscarried has been read for its political implications. Now, more than a quarter century after The Joke was first published and several years after the collapse of the Soviet-imposed Czechoslovak regime, it becomes easier to put such implications into perspective in favor of valuing the book (and all Milan Kundera 's work) as what it truly is: great, stirring literature that sheds new light on the eternal themes of human existence.