Abstract

The purpose of this study is to consider whether it is appropriate to talk about the writing style of the Central Europe as a separate artistic construction. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, when the former Soviet states became part of the western community, Central European society ceased to exist so that the whole project has become an anachronism. One can see it on the example of Kundera’s post-Cold War novels which definitely do not represent the Central European style. It does not mean, however, that one is unable to find a link between Kundera’s The Joke and Immortality. Features such as anti-essentialism, aphoristic and intellectual style, narrative games, ambiguity and irony are appropriate not only for Kundera, but also for other authors of modern novel – with or without Central European citizenship – like Cervantes, Sterne, Broch, Gombrowicz, K. Brandys, Pamuk, etc.