The trope, and real pattern, of the person who is always 'on' and lights up every room while suffering privately. It comes up through Dazai's clowning and the death of Robin Williams.
Where it appears 1
Connections
In tension with
Explored through
- Fake it long enough and you pay
Clowning yourself for others from a place of pain, rather than natural humor, eventually reaches a precipice where something gives. Dazai's novella and the sad-clown pattern show the bill…