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.