COMMUNICATION AND PROBLEMATIC INTEGRATION - KUNDERAS,MILAN LOST-LETTERS IN THE BOOK-OF-LAUGHTER-AND-FORGETTING

This essay uses the theory of problematic integration to analyze Milan Kundera's writing, particularly the central segment, entitled ''Lost Letters,'' in his first novel written as an emigre. The theory is concerned with the role of communication when desires and expectations diverge, or when we face ambiguity, ambivalence, or impossibility (i.e., when it is difficult to integrate evaluative and probabilistic orientations). Communication plays many significant roles in experiences with such dfficulties. The essay reviews problematic integration theory and presents a case study of Kundera's writing designed to illuminate both the theory and a work by one of the most significant of modern novelists. The essay concludes by discussing the relevance of problematic integration theory to other approaches to the study of communication and by identifying questions for future communication research.