本論文旨在藉米歇爾‧巴赫汀談「嘉年華的笑」的來重讀米蘭‧昆德拉《笑忘書》中的笑。笑是一種可以用來衡量時代價值的概念。巴赫汀認為笑在拉伯雷的時代特別重要，當時大眾只有在嘉年華期間才被允許能在公開場合自在地笑，因為無法被預先檢驗的笑足以鬆動階級制度和逆轉社會規範。儘管笑在當代不再是禁忌，昆德拉發現笑被濫加地扭曲、以致承載過多的意義。面對魔術圈圈中那些天使般的群眾，昆德拉異常想念那魔鬼才知道的曖昧的笑。然而，昆德拉和巴赫汀都認為笑是足以對抗統治權威的獨斷界線或至少暫時逆轉那龐大的行政體系。
接下來的章節首先要談巴赫汀和昆德拉的共同點，理解「嘉年華的笑」的本質，辨別「魔鬼的笑」和「天使的笑」，藉由笑找到穿越「邊界」的路徑，最後再回到幽默的笑和昆德拉珍視的小說的藝術的關連。第二章跟著昆德拉的立場觀望廣場上的嘉年華圓圈。在笑被賦予太多意義的年代，我們藉由理解嘉年華的笑來尋找笑的純粹性。第三章裡首先要區辨魔鬼和天使們。儘管兩個群體都會笑，不和諧的笑聲可以作為我們評判的標準。嘉年華的笑和魔鬼的笑的力量在於可以穿越事物的界線，去戳破意識形態的重要性。邊界不只是一種狀態，也是小說人物的日常生活經驗。在第四章裡，我們要討論笑如何讓角色們穿過極權統治的恐怖邊界。在最後一章裡，我們回頭來看昆德拉作品中的長期關注——幽默，它既是小說的藝術的同義詞，也展現了人類狀態的極致。

This thesis aims to provide an alternative reading of laughter in Milan Kundera’s The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by relating it to Mikhail Bakhtin’s carnivalesque laughter. Laughter is a concept, by which we measure values of time. Bakhtin points out that laughter is extraordinarily important in Rabelais’ time since the plebeians were allowed to laugh in public only in carnival or otherwise their unscrutinized laughter might loosen the base of the hierarchy and invert social norms. Though laughter is not forbidden nowadays, Kundera finds that it has been abusively twisted for being loaded with too many meanings. Facing the angelic people of the magic circle, Kundera is overwhelmed by his nostalgia for the ambiguity of laughter, which is best known to the devil. However, both Kundera and Bakhtin regard laughter can defy the dominant delimitation of the authority or temporarily invert the monolithic official system.
The following chapters are going to justify the linkage between Bakhtin and Kundera and the essence of carnivalesque laughter, differentiating demonic laughter from angelic one, tracing the route to cross the border via laughter, and finally connecting humorous laughter to Kundera’s art of the novel. In Chapter Two we firstly side with Kundera to stroll along the merry yet phony carnival circle, which contains no genuine carnivalesque essence. Comprehending carnivalesque laughter helps us to capture the pure representation of laughter in an age when laughter is overloaded with meanings. To distinguish the devil from the angelic crowd is our priority in Chapter Three. Though both groups do laugh, untuneful laughter helps us to distinguish humorous demonic laughter from miming angelic laughter. As we have conceive the power of carnivalesque laughter and demonic one, we are informed that laughter is capable of crossing the limited border of things, to puncture the ideological meanings. The border is not only an existence but also the everyday experience for characters of this novel. We are going to examine how laughter equips characters for crossing the border of totalitarian terror in the fourth chapter. The focus of the final chapter, however, shifts to Kundera’s lasting concern to reveal the humor, which is the synonym of the wisdom of the novel, and to represent human condition to the utmost in his works.

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