18 gems by the great German fiction writer Heinrich Böll.
My review of The Laugher was removed on the Goodreads website, thus I will make The Laugher (among the 18 stories from the collection) the focus of my review here. Enjoy!
THE LAUGHER
"I have become indispensable; I laugh on records, I laugh on tape, and television directors treat me with respect. I laugh mournfully, moderately, hysterically; I laugh like a streetcar conductor or like a helper in the grocery business; laughter in the morning, laughter in the evening, nocturnal laughter and the laughter of twilight. In short: wherever and however laughter is required - I do it."
The story's narrator is a laugher - as he tells us above, a professional laugher. Such an uncommon profession.
But a laugher in high demand.
To take one example, stand-up comedians pay good money to have the laugher in the audience at their club, functioning as a one-man clack. Oh, yes, the laugher's laughter is highly infectious, so if he laughs at the comedian's routine, he can instantly get the entire room going, everybody joining in, producing a roomful of outrageous, appreciative laughter. Wow! A dream come true for any stand-up comic.
Likewise, for television - think of those Saturday morning cartoons or sitcoms with canned laughter, usually a bunch of people laughing, giving the television viewer sitting alone in their living room in front of the television set a sense they are part of a community of people sitting in the living room enjoying the program, laughing at all the gags and punchlines.
Well, the laughter's laughter is so sophisticated, so nuanced, so developed, he can do much better, laughing in many different ways, each laugh custom-made for the situation. Not only will the viewer watching the program feel as if they are part of a community, the viewer will feel a sense of well-being, a sense of abundance, prompting them to continue watching and even purchase the products advertised. Needless to say, advertisers clamor for the laugher's talents.
However, the laugher's professional schedule has its drawbacks. When he's off duty, he drags himself through his day, hangdog, barely able to smile.
If we read between the lines, there's something deeper going on here. How genuine is the laugher? Think of the laughter of children when surprised. How spontaneous. How gleeful. How open and free. Much different than the laugher's laughter - laughter employed at a designated time for a specific purpose, usually a commercial purpose.
Is the laugher's laughter elevating? Joyful? What does his laughter have in common with true art? As Herbert Marcuse observed, “The truth of art lies in its power to break the monopoly of established reality to define what is real.” Marcuse would likely judge the laugher's art reinforces rather than challenges or breaks established reality.
Heinrich Böll concludes his tale with this line: "So I laugh in many different ways, but my own laughter I have never heard." An authentic, free life? Reflect on the laugher's admission in light of this Jean-Paul Sartre quote, “Nothingness lies coiled in the heart of being - like a worm.”
German author Heinrich Böll, 1917-1985
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