When did cheerfulness get so miserable? | The Spectator
We’ve all met the sort of facetious oaf who orders any non-giggling woman to ‘Cheer up, love, it might never happen’. As Timothy Hampton grasps, enforced cheeriness feels about as much fun as compulsory games. His invigorating book about the quest for true cheerfulness in literature and philosophy dismantles the various ‘prosthetic or counterfeit’ versions
issue 23 July 2022 Text settings Text size Small Medium Large Line Spacing Compact Normal Spacious Comments Share Share Boyd Tonkin When did cheerfulness get so miserable? Copy link Copied Linkedin Messenger Email Cheerfulness: A Literary and Cultural History Timothy Hampton Zone Books, pp. 272, £22 We've all met the sort of facetious oaf who orders any non-giggling woman to 'Cheer up, love, it might never happen'. As Timothy Hampton grasps, enforced cheeriness feels about as much fun as compulsory games. His invigorating book about the quest for true cheerfulness in literature and philosophy
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