You don't ask light questions do you?
Weeellll after reading wikipedia (I know) and hawling my brain into action a little.... my understanding of the Black Swan concept is it highlights the limitations of human "knowledge" in predicting/explaining "Black Swan Events" because their very nature implies they were previously unheard of and extreme (past experience does not apply, generalization as used even with deductive reasoning is limited i.e. all swans we documented are white therefore until further notice, all swans are white" and the problem of explanation when there does indeed exist a black swan). With hindsight, people tend to over-simplify explanations of the event e.g. he mentions WWI?
So, applying this observation to The Joke, hmm?
Kundera describes an unfortunate event, where he made a joke about the communist party in a postcard to his girlfriend. This was interceded by the "authorities" at her university and he was accused of individualism, being bougeois by the communist party etc and his life, in his eyes was ruined. He was put before a board and they voted against him, removing him as an accademic and placing him in a menial job at a work camp. This Event alone could be seen as the Black Swan. But there were many more to follow...
He met and unwittingly, nearly raped a woman he got to know at the work camp and later, plotting against the man he thought responsible for his own demise before the board, made that man's life easier by taking his estranged wife off his hands and leaving him free to pursue an affair elsewhere, with a younger woman. The woman he unwittingly raped as a youth ended up with a religious friend of his, in the village he used to live in (unconnected so far as the camp was in a different city) and ironically, was the only woman he had ever been in love with (granted obsessively) and another friend had to accept that times had changed and his son would not glory in the old folklore like he did as a child, and didn't want to take the lead roll in the parade at his Maravian hometown.
Kundera does silently challenge the reader to have been able to predict each of the events (from the initial insecurity that the protagonist had about his relationship that led him to make the joke in the post card, to the attempted suicide and failure of the married woman he has an affair with and rejects in later life (the woman believes she is over-dosing on her employees pain-killers, but they are laxatives).
There IS a loose connection between all these events, but could the reader predict definitely what might happen?
I was proud of myself for predicting most of these events, however, I have had some unfortunate experiences and sods law often applies, which in itself could not be predicted. Kundera would not know that I would one day read his book and guess the twists from my own past experience. So, I expect Kundera is saying, life itself is a series of Black Swan events and the individual players are often blamed for their misdeeds/mistakes, when they had very little information on their side to predict or prevent such occurences.
There is definitely a meta-commentary, but I wouldn't really call it a code.
Sorry, don't think I've seen that film, but would probably enjoy it! Sounds a bit Lynchean.
Few, I'm off to play some mind-numbing computer games...
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sounds fun. Don't know if I'll understand the code though. Just message me with the details.
