Laughter, on the other hand, " Petrarch went on, "is an explosion that tears us away from the world and throws us back into our own cold solitude. Joking is a barrier between man and the world. Joking is the enemy of love and poetry. That's why I tell you yet again, and you want to keep in mind: Boccaccio doesn't understand love. Love can never be laughable. Love has nothing in common with laughter.
Petrarch reflects on the nature of laughter, suggesting that it is a force that isolates individuals, pulling them from the reality around them and pushing them into solitude. He views joking as a barrier that prevents true connection among people, positioning it as a threat to both love and poetry. This perspective emphasizes the seriousness and depth of love, arguing that it is fundamentally incompatible with humor.
Milan Kundera, in "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting," reiterates this sentiment, positing that true love transcends the realm of laughter. According to Kundera, this distinction highlights a profound understanding of love’s qualities; love is a sincere, earnest experience that laughter undermines. Thus, he aligns Petrarch's views with a broader philosophical understanding that love cannot be trivialized or reduced to the superficiality of joking.
