Pain and Comedy
Featuring Toska, Paul Scarron’s Epitaph & Passenger
Pain and Toska
The untranslatable Russian word toska, which is best rendered in English as “melancholia, nostalgia or lugubriousness”, expresses a pain that infects a person to their very core. Vladimir Nabokov wrote that,
At its deepest and most painful, [toska] is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning.
To be “longing with nothing to long for” seems like the most desperately tragic state of the human condition. Hope keeps us going when there’s nothing else left. It alleviates at least a little of the pain of yearning.
Toska is often likened to the Portuguese saudade, which similarly conveys a profound sense of longing. In the Portuguese context, this distinctive term often comes with the sense that what we are yearning for is unattainable — or more likely, irretrievable. This is evidenced for example in Mensagem, Fernando Pessoa’s poetry collection that reflects on the loss of Portugal’s naval empire.
Escaping Pain
Shortly before his death, Paul Scarron wrote himself the following epitaph:
Celui qui cy maintenant dort Fit plus de pitié que d’envie, Et souffrit mille fois la mort Avant que de perdre la vie.
Passant, ne fais ici de bruit Garde bien que tu ne l’éveilles : Car voici la première nuit Que le pauvre Scarron sommeille.
[He who now sleeps here Deserved more pity than envy, And suffered death a thousand times Before losing his life.
As you pass, do not make a sound Be careful not to wake him Because this is the first night That poor Scarron sleeps.]
During his life, the same Paul Scarron was a prolific writer of burlesque verses and plays, as well as a comic novel, Le Roman Comique.
Why do pain and comedy sit side by side? In Scarron’s case, his condition was irredeemable. He suffered from rheumatism, which made his upper body twisted and paralyzed his legs. The pain was constant and he took large amounts of opium to cope.
Comedy is undoubtedly another coping strategy. We often laugh out of desperation, nervousness or despair. When hope is extinguished, humour is all that remains. Like Scarron, Passenger uses comedy as a shield:
I hide behind my jokes as a form of protection
Is Laughter the Best Medicine?
A report entitled ‘Laughing away the pain: A narrative review of humour, sense of humour and pain’ appeared in the European Journal of Pain in 2018. The results of this research suggested there may be a connection between humour and comedy. It stated that,
…humorous distractions, such as watching a comedy clip, increase pain tolerance
Moreover, even in cases of chronic pain they concluded that,
…the results of correlational studies show significant associations between the use of humour and main variables such as anxiety and catastrophizing
This adds to the findings of another study in 2017, which showed that laughter releases endorphins in the brain. Endorphins can be thought of as natural pain relievers: they are generally released in response to pain or stress, for example after exercise.
I don’t know if toska can be cured or if Paul Scarron’s comic writing reduced his suffering. But pain is something we all face and anything we can do to limit the intensity of the hurt is worth keeping in mind.
I would love to hear your views on the links between pain and comedy. Does humour really alleviate suffering or is it just a distraction?
You should also read this beautiful haiku Tree Langdon wrote about toska:
