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Zert/ The Joke (1967)
is basically conceived as a set of interconnected
stories, each told by an unnamed character who is named in
the other stories.
1. The male protagonist arrives at his hometown after many
years of absence. He takes a room at the hotel but then
looks for a friend, Kostka, and asks him to borrow his flat
for a romantic meeting. Later he accidentally meets a
woman, Lucie, whom he had not seen in 15 years, and who
does not seem to recognize him.
2. A woman relates how she got married to Pavel out of
communist fervor, and how he ignored her and led her to
desperation. She has just met a Ludvik who has seduced her
but she is still attached to Pavel, from whom she had a
daughter, Zdena. But Ludvik is coming to see her and she is
excited about their meeting.
3. Ludvik recounts how he met Lucie when he was still a
student., following a bad joke he wrote to his then
girlfriend Marketa. Since Marketa was so serious about her
communist training, Ludvik (who was also a member of the
party) sent her a postcard that quoted ironically Trotsky.
The postcard fell in the hands of the censors who expelled
him as an anti-party element. He was even assigned to
forced labor. He entered a rather decadent and melancholy
stage of his life, until one day he met Lucie the way one
has a revelation. Ludvik felt reborn through the
relationship with this ordinary woman, who was alien to the
whole communist propaganda. But she confessed being still a
virgin and too frightenened to have sex. Then Ludvik was
confined in the camp because of a collective punishment. He
was so determined to have Lucie that one night he managed
to escape. But, to his dismay, Lucie again refused to lose
her virginity, and he had to return to the camp more
frustrated than ever. Lucie disappeared. Ludvik had already
lost two friends in the camp and a third one committed
suicide. He spent a few more years as a miner before
finally being discharged.
4. The father of Vladimir and husband of Vlasta, an expert
in folk culture who suffers at his teenage son's
indifference towards it, sees his old friend Ludvik, but
Ludvik pretends not to see him. They had seen each other
for the last time when Ludvik, released from prison and the
mines, had come back to resume his studies. On that
occasion they had had an argument about the heroes that the
communist authorities forced them to worship, but Ludvik
had clearly been afraid to continue the conversation.
5. Ludvik has accidentally seen Lucie and is now less
excited about his ecnounter with Helena, Pavel's wife.
Ludvik has planned this romance with Helena as an act of
revenge against her husband. Ludvik remembers vividly how
Pavel directed the proceedings against him and sentenced
him to expulsion. Ludvik makes love to Helena, consumes his
revenge. She is madly in love with him, a fact that only
increases his evil satisfaction.
6. A male (Kostka) relates how Lucie was discovered living
like a tramp and allowed to work at the same farm where he
worked. She confessed that she had been gang raped, and he
consoled her with his Christian faith. He was an old friend
of Ludvik, whom Ludvik had helped. Lucie eventually got
married (unhappily) and moved to the same town where Kostka
lived, and where Ludvik eventually found her.
7. The first chapter that alternates narrating voices.
As Kostka tells Ludvik the real story of Lucie, Ludvik
realizes that all those years he had been loving a mirage,
a Lucie that did not exist. The real Lucie was not a shy
virgin but an abused woman disgusted by sex. Ludvik joins
the folk festival that is about to start, organized by
Jaroslav who is proud to see his son Vladimir as the king
of the parade. n the meantime, Pavel's wife Helena mentally
thanks Ludvik for saving her from desperation.
Ludvik follows the parade, and spots Lucie in it.
Jaroslav who has seen Ludvik but avoided him is exhausted
but proud of his son, until a gfriend tells him that it is
not his son: his son has snobbed the whole event, the event
that his father dedicated his life to.
In the crowd Ludvik meets Pavel. Pavel has changed.
He has become an idol of his students, a critic of the
establishment. Now Ludvik should be on his side, but Ludvik
needs to hate him, that's what he lived for.
The existential tragedies of Ludvik and Jaroslav proceed in
parallel while the parade tours the town.
Pavel is not only friendly to Luvvik\: he even knows of his
affair with Helena and is perfectly happy about it, because
he now has a young and cute student as his lover.
In fact, they meet Helena and Pavel leaves her with Ludvik.
But now Ludvik is disgusted by his own joke, and tells
Helena the terrible truth: that he only meant to take
revenge on an old enemy, Pavel, that he has no intention of
seeing her again.
Helena is so desperate that she takes some pills to flirt
with suicide. The pills belong to a boy, Jindra, whois
madly in love with her. She sends Jindra to deliver a
farewell message to Ludvik. Ludvik understands the gravity
of the situation and looks for her. They find her in a
toilet‡ it turns out that the pills are laxatives that
Jindra has to take. A joke within the joke.
JAroslav has faced the truth‡ his own wife Vlasta helped
their son Vladimir take off with friends instead of wearing
the king's costume. The kids hate the whole parade. His son
is ashamed of his father.
At the peak of the festival, Ludvik decides to join the
folk band of Jaroslav. It is his way to cleanse himself of
all the hatred, to return to his roots. Jaroslav is
touched, but they both know that their age is gone and the
young audience is only interested in getting drunk.
Jaroslav has a heart attack that almost kills him.
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Zert/ Lo Scherzo (1967)
Ludvik torna alla citta` natia e trova ospitalita` presso l'amico Kostka.
Riconosce nella barbiera del quartiere una vecchia conoscenza, Lucie Sebetka.
Helena e` sposata a Pavel Zemanek, ma e` un matrimonio infelice.
Ha inizio il flashback di Ludvik. Ai tempi dell'universita, innamorato ma
insicuro, scrisse una cartolina alla bella Marketa in cui ironizzava sul
comunismo. Benche' fosse sempre stato un comunista modello, la polizia
sequestro` la cartolina, lo interrogo` e lo classifico` fra i sospetti di
attivita` antigovernative. Invano Ludvik spero` nell'amicizia di Zemanek,
capo del partito, che si dimostro` invece viscido ed egoista. Ludivk venne
espulso dall'universita` e dal partito, e presto costretto ad arruolarsi
nell'esercito. I soldati vengono mandati a lavorare nelle mine, e per qualche
anno questa e` la vita, frustratissima, del giovane Ludvik. L'unica consolazione
e` una donna, Lucie, di cui Ludvik si innamora furiosamente. Lei e` altrettanto
innamorata, gli porta fiori, ma sembra voler difendere a tutti i costi la sua
verginita`. Ludvik rischia la galera una sera per incontrarla di nascosto,
e, quando Lucie gli resiste di nuovo, decide di farla finita. Lucie scompare.
La vita di Ludvik si protrae nello squallore della caserma (che e` di fatto un
campo di prigionia), fra un comandante fanatico e il suicidio di un commilitone.
Jaroslav, amico d'infanzia di Ludvik e specialista di folklore moravo, ricorda
come la loro amicizia si incrino` dopo il colpo di stato comunista. Ludvik
divenne comunista e per qualche tempo i due rimasero in confidenza. Ma al
matrimonio di Jaroslav con Vlasta divenne chiaro che i loro rapporti si erano
irrimediabilmente incrinati. Ludvik era diventato un'altra persona e si era
alienato anche l'affetto dei parenti. Anni dopo i due si incontrarono di nuovo,
e Jaroslav gia` sapeva delle sventure di Ludvik, reduce dal servizio militare
e dalle mine. Ludvik veniva a tentare di ricostruirsi una carriera universitaria,
e invano Jaroslav tento` di riaccedere la scintilla della loro amicizia.
Ludvik racconta come la sua vita si incrocio` con quella di Helena.
Ludvik aveva trovato lavoro in un istituto di ricerca. Helena venne a
intervistarlo. Quando Ludvik scopri` che il marito di Helena era il suo
odiato nemico, decise di sedurla. Ci riusci` anche troppo bene. Lei si
innamoro` di lui professandogli di aver ritrovato un senso nella vita.
Kostka, comunista religioso, racconta i suoi sentimenti controversi per Ludvik.
Da un lato lo ha sempre ammirato e gli e` riconoscente per vecchi favori
ricevuti, dall'altro non si sente a suo agio con lui, in quanto avverte che
Ludvik lo ha aiutato per odio (della societa`, dei nemici, di coloro che lo
rovinarono), non per amore.
Kostka racconta un vecchio episodio: di quando arrestarono una donna, Lucie,
che rubava fiori in cimitero. Kostka divenne suo amico quando lei venne
assegnata alla sua serra e Lucie gli racconto` di essere stata violentata
giovanissima da una banda di amici. Fu in balia dei loro rituali sessuali
finche' non vennero arrestati per altri crimini. Poi conobbe un soldato, ma
anche quel soldato voleva usarle violenza e pertanto non si concesse a lui
e fuggi`. Kostka racconta questo episodio a Ludvik, che ovviamente e` sconvolto
nel ricoscersi nel soldato e nell'apprendere che Lucie non era per nulla
vergine. Ludvik si rende conto di non aver mai davvero saputo chi fosse
la donna dei suoi sogni. Kostka, sposato con un figlio, fece fatica a non
innamorarsi di Lucie.
Fortunatamente la sua fede religiosa gli costo` la carriera nella serra
e pertanto l'allontanamento da Lucie.
I destini di Ludvik, Jaroslav e Helena si incrociano nell'ultima parte,
durante la tradizionale Corsa dei Re che rappresenta un evento importante
per Jaroslav.
Ludvik si trova finalmente di fronte Pavel, e tutto il suo odio
svanisce di colpo. Ludvik si rende conto di essere ridicolo. Pavel ha trovato
un'altra donna, e probabilmente molto migliore di Helena.
La verita` e` umiliante. Ludvik vuole liberarsi di Helena, che invece lo
ama ancora teneramente. Helena tenta di suicidarsi, ma, comicamente, prende
le pillole sbagliate (lassativi invece di sonniferi).
Jaroslav, dopo un alterco con la moglie e la delusione di non essere stato
prescelto per il ruolo di Re, viene costretto a suonare di fronte a un
publico di burocrati e politici, che sono del tutto indifferenti.
Ludvik chiede di suonare con lui ed e` come se si purificasse, come se
ritrovasse nell'ardore patriotico delle canzoni folk il suo vero ego.
Ma Jaroslav viene colto da un attaccio cardiaco e gli muore fra le braccia,
mentre i politici si aggirano ubriachii intorno a loro.
Il romanzo descrive una crisi esistenziale, e lo fa bilanciandola contro
le crisi esistenziali degli altri, dei veri protagonisti della sua esistenza,
tutti malinconicamente sconfitti dalla storia.
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