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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
A book on laughter and how it brings out our most authentic1 selves
When Nuar Alsadir went to clown school, she wasn't there for a career in clowning. The poet and psychoanalyst was researching laughter for a new book –- going out to comedy clubs and improv shows to really listen to the audience and hear when they laughed.
What she learned at clown school surprised her.
"The audience tended to laugh not when something was humorous, but when it was honest," she says.
We know that laughter is physiologically3 beneficial – it releases endorphins and increases blood flow. But Alsadir learned that it can also help connect to the unconscious and bring out our most authentic selves. She writes about this in her new book Animal Joy: A Book of Laughter and Resuscitation4.
Both psychoanalysis and the art of clowning – though in radically5 different ways – create a path toward the unconscious, making it easier to access the unsocialized self, or, in philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's terms, "to become the one you are."
When Alsadir took the stage at clown school, she realized that people were most moved when she spoke6 about something that was meaningful to her.
"Counterintuitively, it's not what you say," she says. "It's the emotion that you access in yourself as you're delivering it that is going to reach other people."
The title of Alsadir's book comes from something she read in Chekhov's notebook: "The so-called pure childlike joy of life is animal joy."
For Alsadir, it is the highest joy. "It's when we're most embodied7, and most inside of our true selves — our spontaneous selves."
In the book, the poet points to two kinds of laughter: Duchenne and non-Duchenne laughter, named after the nineteenth-century neurologist who studied the ways in which we manifest our emotions.
"Duchenne laughter is the full bodied outburst that overtakes you," Alsadir says. "The unconscious is suddenly released into the room like a wild animal."
It's when you don't necessarily know why you're laughing, but you can't stop. It can make your stomach cramp8 and tears run down your cheeks.
"The other kind of laughter, which is actually the most common form, is called non-Duchenne," she says. "And that kind of laughter is social laughter."
The poet says that 90% of laughter is this socially coded, non-Duchenne kind. We normally use it to communicate something to the world. Even if we do this subconsciously9, Alsadir understands it to be less of an outburst and more of an intellectual tool used to control interactions.
"You're letting someone know that they're safe, or you're happy to see them," she says. "It can also be used to counteract10 a communication that's about to come."
She gives the example of laughter that accompanies the phrase "don't take this the wrong way" or "no offense11" — adding that what comes after non-Duchenne laughter can often be uncomfortable or critical.
Alsadir is more interested in Duchenne laughter, because it brings out our spontaneous impulses – reviving us in the process. She writes in the book:
Laughter shakes us out of our deadness
"When you are in touch with your true self, you feel more alive, more present, embodied," she says. "And that feeling is one of the best feelings there is."
The poet hopes her new book will lead readers to that feeling.
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authentic
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a.真的,真正的;可靠的,可信的,有根据的 | |
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2
transcript
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n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书 | |
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3
physiologically
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ad.生理上,在生理学上 | |
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4
resuscitation
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n.复活 | |
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5
radically
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ad.根本地,本质地 | |
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spoke
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n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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7
embodied
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v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 );象征;包括;包含 | |
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8
cramp
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n.痉挛;[pl.](腹)绞痛;vt.限制,束缚 | |
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9
subconsciously
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ad.下意识地,潜意识地 | |
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10
counteract
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vt.对…起反作用,对抗,抵消 | |
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11
offense
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n.犯规,违法行为;冒犯,得罪 | |
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