For Mr. Demetz in this sense, Kafka inverts the usual expectation, and in so doing subverts the positivist optimism, the d'Annunzioesque belief in heroic happiness, that marked the festive mood at Brescia in 1909.
This summer's new Pixar flick "Inside Out" addressed the problem when protagonist Riley's former fictitious friend struggled against becoming obsolete, (spoiler) ultimately sacrificing himself for her happiness, marking the production company's token tear-jerking scene.
In retrospect, the "Frankenstein summer" seems a fantastical interlude of happiness in lives marked by tragedy.
Perhaps the most important of these is that the very first Christmas, according to the Gospel of Matthew, was itself marked not by pure unadulterated happiness, but by the darker hues of suffering and death.
"Revelation is marked by mystery," he wrote, "eternal happiness by suffering, the certitude of faith by uncertainty, easiness by difficulty, truth by absurdity".
But these arguments can work just as the first proof works: Socrates can suppose that happiness, whatever it is, is marked by pleasure (just as it is marked by the absence of regret, frustration, and fear).
All the dourness and gritty determination that marked his batting would vanish, and his happy face and toothy grin would radiate a nation's worth of happiness.
Chelsea's breakthrough goal was marked by high-end quality, which sparkled amid the gloomy weather and sparked happiness inside the travelling enclosure.
I have marked my calendar with the following: a) March 20th has been designated by the U.N. as International Happiness Day.
Our inner life is most immediately, or "naturally," marked by various drives, particularly the desire for pleasure (which would be akin to the desire for happiness discussed above).
