Jonathan Leroy – “The imaginary Brain” or Toinette’s Brain [1]

– This man in question is not mentioned among any of my great physicians’ tables. What does he say that you are suffering from?

– He says it’s the unconscious, and various others say it’s about the heart.

– They are all ignorant. It’s because of the brain that you’re sick.

– From the brain?

– Yes. What do you feel?

– I feel from time to time as if it is a sadness that envelopes me.

– Exactly, the brain.

– It seems to me sometimes that I work too much.

– The brain.

– I miss my children, I must say that much…

– The brain.

– I sometimes lose my voice, when I have to speak in public … or when I want to talk to a woman who…

– The brain! Do you have an appetite for what you eat?

– Yes sir.

– The brain! Sometimes you make poor choices in your life?

– Yes sir.

– The brain! Do you fall in love, and not always the right person?

– Yes sir.

– The brain, the brain, I tell you! What does your doctor order?

– He orders me to speak about…

– Ignorantus, ignoranta, Ignorantum. You need a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Your doctor is a beast.

This week you can read that Alide Tassinari, Monique Unterberger, Renata Cuchiarelli and Rik Loose do not hear it that way!

Translation: Raphael Montague

[1] A free adaptation of the dialogue between Toinette and Argan in “The Imaginary Invalid [Le malade imaginaire]” of Molière.