Laughter and Other Essays

Why does a child feel compelled to laugh during a medical examination or while offering condolences? In the title essay, Terada Torahiko begins with his own embarrassment and develops a tentative mechanical analogy for laughter, later comparing it with Bergson’s famous study.

The eleven complete works in this collection range from scientific reflection to intimate scenes of family and memory. Sumo reveals the uses of levers and momentum. A search for a kerosene lamp becomes a satire on fragile modern conveniences. Science teaching, antiquarian curiosity, and the kinship of scientists and artists prompt arguments about discovery and imagination. A walk through Kanda raises questions about publicity, conviction, and coercion.

A family’s ancestral rite, a forest vision summoned by music, playful scientific diary entries, and the remembered agave beside a childhood pond bring another register of observation: quietly lyrical, uneasy, and attentive to passing time.