at least in Italian, joie de vivre 20:27 Apr 20, 2020
is often rendered not "gioia di vivere" but "saper vivere" (bene)
Without going into or claiming any "ruthless objectivity" on the subject, I just say that my personal understanding of the expression "joie de vivre" does not refer to the quality of life but to a quality in a person: her/his ABILITY to enjoy life. Hence it's is not at all "joy of living" but rather an ability to enjoy life even when there's not much joy in it. That is, in the case in point and for example, I personally love foods containing glutens, and the latter never caused me any harm. It would be something of a privation for me to forgo glutens. And yet I have enough joie de vivre to manage to enjoy life EVEN without glutens. However, here it seems to be the inverse: Look how peachy-keen life can be without glutens! Hence, I think "joie de vivre" is a totally unacceptable rendering. |