Joie de vivre
Joie de vivre (French pronunciation: [ʒwa də vivʁ], joy of living) is a French phrase often used in English to express a cheerful enjoyment of life; an exultation of spirit.
Joie de vivre
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Origins and development [edit]
Casual use of the phrase in French can be dated back at least as far as Fénelon in the late 17th century, but it was only brought into literary prominence in the 19th century, first by Michelet (1857) in his pantheistic work Insecte, to contrast the passive life of plants with animal joie de vivre,[2] and then by Émile Zola in his book of that name from 1883-4.[3]
Thereafter, it took on increasing weight as a mode of life, approximating at times almost to a secular religion,[4] in the early 20thC; and subsequently fed into Lacanian emphasis on "a jouissance beyond the pleasure principle"[5] in the latter half of the century - a time when its emphasis on enthusiasm, energy and spontaneity gave it a global prominence with the rise of Hippie culture.[6]
With the neoliberal triumph, the term has gone into partial, but hopefully not total, eclipse.[7]
Psychology [edit]
20th century proponents of self-actualization such as Abraham Maslow or Carl Rogers saw as one of the by-products the rediscovery of what the latter called "the quiet joy in being one's self...a spontaneous relaxed enjoyment, a primitive joie de vivre".[8]
Joie de vivre has also been linked to D. W. Winnicott's sense of play, and of access to the true self.[9]
Adaptations [edit]
Uniformly referenced in its standard French form by the educated, various corruptions are observed such as joie de vie which would translate to "joy of life." [10]
See also [edit]
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Look up joie de vivre in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
References [edit]
- ^ Shibles, Warren (1997). Humor Reference Guide: A Comprehensive Classification and Analysis. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 0-8093-2097-5.
- ^ S. Harrow/T. A. Unwin, Joie de Vivre in French Literature and Culture (2009) p. 300
- ^ Harrow, p. 305
- ^ Harrow, p. 306
- ^ Jacques Lacan, The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis (1994) p. 184
- ^ Cecile Andrews, Small is Beautiful (2006) p. 96
- ^ Andrew, p. 96
- ^ Carl Rogers, On Becoming a Person (1961) p. 87=8
- ^ Adam Phillips, Charles Lamb: Selected Prose (1985) p. 446
- ^ Joie de Vie Poodle Dog Wall Art
Further reading [edit]
William C. Schutz, Joy: Expanding Human Awareness (1973)
M Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (1990)
