The Festival of Insignificance is a novel by Milan Kundera, being his eleventh fictional work. It is about a man named Alain, who has not seen his mother since his childhood; Ramon, an intellectual who has retired; D’Ardelo, a man who has a narcissistic personality; Charles and “Caliban” are two people who operate a catering firm; and Quaquelique is an old man who remains attracted to women. Quaquelique manages to seduce women using his skill at non-stop talking. The novel is set in Paris, the themes include the erotic potential; the link between mother and child; the procreative role of sex; angels, navel gazing and insignificance. The novels' characters discuss the philosophical ideas of Hegel, Kant and Schopenhauer, the novel is made up of seven parts (an approach Kundera also used in his novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being).