The Hitchhiking Game

A mind game that starts between a couple on the first day of their vacation of two weeks, turns getting sour. In the Hitchhiking Game, another brilliant short story from Milan Kundera's 'Laughable Loves', the young woman becomes the hitchhiker, and the young man becomes the stranger who has picked her up from the roadside. The game continues till the end of that day, and both of them, at one point or the other wish to stop the game, so as to "return" to their original selves. But somehow, quite fortuitously, the game continues, and the sexual relationship between the two takes the shape of a power struggle. The game drags on, becomes bitter, still drags on, and ends with the end of the day, changing the perspective both had for each other. The meaning and implications of the "game" for both the young man and the young woman are also based on the traditional virgin/whore dichotomy, whereby women are categorized according to their sexual behavior as either "good girls" or "bad girls".

Nobody Will Laugh

That's the first story in Milan Kundera's collection of short stories, Laughable Loves. The protagonist, is the author, is a writer, and the story begins with the receipt of a letter from one Mr. Zaturecky, who requests him to write a review for an article. The author finds the article utmost crappy, and not even worth the half hour of inattention he gives to it. He, however, is not able to slam this on the face of Mr. Zaturecky, and starts off with a lie, which in turn gives rise to a series of lies, miscommunications, and misunderstandings between the author, his girlfriend Klara, the authorities of the institute where the author used to gives lectures, Mr. Zaturecky, and his wife, leading ultimately to the loss of his apartment, his job and his girlfriend. All that was started with lightness, and with an intension of a subtle humor, led to the complete loss of the author's personal and professional belongings. But that it was indeed started with some lightness gives the author some solace.