Monday, November 01, 2010

Toska (Nabokov explains)

"No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom."

~ Nabokov via Hecho/Visto

1 comment:

dowitcher said...

I have never heard of toska. If you follow the seasons you see that nature like our mood cycle is cyclical. Nature has it's own form of the blahs. Right now the trees are losing all their leaves and I feel the sense of loss of the lushness which will be completely gone in no time. Feels like time to go inward.