Marie Kondo, the tidying expert and best-selling author, has a new book, “Joy at Work,” that takes her trademarked method to the workplace and encourages readers to find joy there by cleaning their desks, among other things.

Of course, the terrible joke right now is that the coronavirus is the new KonMari, having scoured most businesses more thoroughly than any decluttering plan could by sending its messiest elements — people — home, a turn of events unlikely to lead to much joy, professional or otherwise.

But back to the book.

Can you find joy at work, and is that a good thing? Is it asking too much of a stapler that it spark joy? Is it asking too much of a job?

To a Calvinist or early American, work was the embodiment of Christian principles, and so a duty: work for work’s sake. Joy’s? Not so much.