The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (Czech: Kniha smíchu a zapomnění) is a novel by Milan Kundera, published in France in 1979.

The book considers the nature of forgetting as it occurs in history, politics, and life in general.

It was finished in 1978 and was then published in France under the title Le Livre du rire et de l'oubli in 1979.

The English translation was first published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf in 1980, and it is credited to Michael Henry Heim.

Kundera also describes a photograph from 21 February 1948, where Vladimír Clementis stands next to Klement Gottwald.

This makes Karel even more attracted to Eva, and after the mother leaves, they continue with renewed vigour.

This section concerns events after the Russians occupied Czechoslovakia in 1968, especially Kundera's attempts to write a horoscope under an associate's name.

Kundera also describes 'circle dancing' wherein the joy and laughter build up to the point that the people's steps take them soaring into the sky with the laughing angels.

It turns out that the items are not packed in a parcel, and Tamina fears that her private letters and diaries are read by others.

The situation turns worse as Bibi gets fed up with her husband and refuses to go anywhere with him, which means the trip to Prague is cancelled.

It starts with introducing Kristyna, who develops a romantic relationship with a student studying philosophy and poetry.

"[3] Litost seems to be always present in the student whom Kristyna loves, and this feeling is also one of the reasons that he broke up with his former girlfriend.

His professor, nicknamed Voltaire, invites the student to an evening gathering of the great poets of the country.

He is surprised to find her tacky, gaudy and simplistic in the city setting and decides to go to the meeting.