"promising with" meaning I am translating the book _Missing Out: In Praise of the Unlived Life_ by Adam Phillips. It has this passage: > But what might we find ourselves doing if not getting it was the project, not the problem? Not, of course, promising with jokes, which seems to persuade us that there is an 'it' to get, but more promising with works of art. What does "promising with" mean here?

As an English or Irish translator, I feel your pain.

It seems like the author is using the two 'promising with's' to create a comparison between the two. Exactly the way he does in the previous sentence.

> But what might we find ourselves doing if not getting it was the project, not the problem?

So for me, the translation might read like this:

Not, of course, **using** jokes, which seems to persuade us that there is an 'it' to get, but more **like** works of art.