Don't take shadows too seriously. Reality is your only safety. Continue to reject illusion.
Wole SoyinkaRead
Even when I'm writing plays I enjoy having company and mentally I think of that company as the company I'm writing for.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of audience awareness in creative writing.
Wole Soyinka highlights the idea that even in solitude while writing, the presence of an imagined audience influences the creative process. This concept underscores the vital role of connection and feedback in the artistic endeavor, suggesting that writers often consider their audience's perspective as they craft their narratives.
Themes
WritingCompanyAudienceCreativeInfluence
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a writing workshop to inspire participants to consider their audience.
More from Wole Soyinka
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A war, with its attendant human suffering, must, when that evil is unavoidable, be made to fragment more than buildings: It must shatter the foundations of thought and re-create. Only in this way does every individual share in the cataclysm and understand the purpose of sacrifice.
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Rwanda, which is one of the younger independent states in Africa, must be regarded as a model of how great human trauma can be transformed to commence true reconstruction of people. Human trauma can lead to stunted growth and mass withdrawal.
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I have a kind of magnetic attraction to situations of violence.
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Art is solace; art is vision, and when I pick up a literary work, I am a consumer of literature for its own sake.
Wole SoyinkaRead
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