The Festival of Insignificance is one of Milan Kundera's lesser known novels as well as an earlier work, but it contains his beloved tone of tortured apathy. Kundera is popular for capturing a specific brand of cynicism the result of witnessing the Cold War in Eastern Europe. This novel in particular treats political topics, most significantly Stalin.
A group of five bohemian types live in Paris. Dealing with the political turmoil, they rely upon each other to lighten the mood. Charles and Caliban do so through comic relief. Alain is the main protagonist and an intellectual, so he prefers to directly discuss the socio-economic and political concerns of the time with his friends. His approach is rationalism, but he gets hung up on the futility of discourse to affect any real change outside of his social circle. D'Ardelo is their rich friend who suffers from a narcissistic personality disorder. He views the world through its treatment of him personally, a sometimes self-fulfilling prophecy. For his part, Ramon prefers to vent his outrage privately. He views humor, specifically the apathy of insignificance, as the most appropriate form of civil disobedience, so he's a recently retired Don Juan who never takes anything seriously ever.
Told from the perspective of an unnamed and impersonal narrative, the book takes on a complex flavor of fate. The narrator, although his relationship to the friends remains unstated, demonstrates a personal investment in their lives. He inserts himself into their narrative, placing specific obstacles or boons -- intellectual fodder -- in their paths. Seen from the perspective of this narrator, their lives appear to be directed and organized, despite the friends themselves feeling insignificant and disparate. Wrestling with the troubling circumstances of their socio-political climate, the friends operate unaware of the influence of the narrator upon their daily lives. In other words, they believe they're isolated and anonymous, but they actually are participating in a narrative directed by someone who seems to intend for their intellectual and philosophical progression toward an unstated goal.
