Surprised by Joy

Joy. It's out of our control—unpredictable, illogical, transitory, all-consuming. It can shatter our most basic assumptions. It can heal. It isn't an idea. It is far more than a body state. It can come to us at the strangest times—in the depths of despair or the height of frustration, when we're most lonely or when we're most fully embraced, or just absent-mindedly staring off into space. It is transforming, but it does not take us out of ourselves or our situations. It is, in itself, an answer that gives birth to very different questions, ones we may not have known how to ask—about the real, but unpredictable, good in us and the world around us. But it is easy in times of tumult and anger to forget that this experience of joy—and what flows from it—is no less evanescent than our rage. Its effects may be more lasting. But, like most positive emotions, joy does not, in general, move us to speech. And that is our invitation here: Help us explore, through fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction and memoir, how experiences of joy help shape us and our relationship with the world around us.

Country of Publication

United States