tavi gevinson on wonder, growing up and the power of darker emotion in psychology today
“When you’re a child, you have this sense of wonder- there’s no filter to what makes you happy But your teen version is more interesting. Something can make you feel emotion that’s awful- but it’s a little beautiful, because you feel very alive. Take my birthday- it was great, I was dancing with friends- but then I compare that with this time I was walking down an alley, listening to a song that fit perfectly with the lights that were flashing, and that moment gets to me more. It made me a little sad, because the song was sad, but it’s the memory I’m happier to look back on.”
zadie smith on joy vs. pleasure in the new york review of books
“Joy is such a human madness…The writer Julian Barnes, considering mourning, once said, “It hurts just as much as it is worth.” In fact, it was a friend of his who wrote the line in a letter of condolence, and Julian told it to my husband, who told it to me. For months afterward these words stuck with both of us, so clear and so brutal. It hurts just as much as it is worth. What an arrangement. Why would anyone accept such a crazy deal? Surely if we were sane and reasonable we would every time choose a pleasure over a joy, as animals themselves sensibly do.”
