I first read Sigmund Freud's 'Beyond the Pleasure Principle' as a young girl, and it helped me to understand that there are thousands of possible ways to interpret our experience, that everything has a meaning, and that interpretation is the key to reality. This was the first step to becoming a writer.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the power of interpretation in shaping our understanding of reality and personal experiences.
Olga Tokarczuk reflects on her early encounter with Sigmund Freud's work, which opened her eyes to the multitude of interpretations that can be derived from human experiences. She suggests that recognizing the significance of interpretation is crucial not only for understanding the world but also for her development as a writer, indicating that the ability to find meaning can be transformative.
In practice
This quote can be used in a writing workshop to inspire participants to explore different interpretations of their experiences.
But the fact is we did have colonies in the east of Poland, we did have a slave economy there. But this is not common knowledge - or part of our national myth. It goes against the current romanticised view of the government, and much of the country, that Poles have always been victims, never oppressors.
My books are not 'political.' I don't make political demands. They actually describe life. But when we look at human life, politics creeps in everywhere.
I think that first-person narration is very characteristic of contemporary optics, in which the individual performs the role of subjective center of the world.
The world is a fabric we weave daily on the great looms of information, discussions, films, books, gossip, little anecdotes.
Well-written novels make you more empathetic towards other people. You can identify with someone who isn't you. You can change your identity. A 14-year-old boy can become Anna Karenina. It is a miracle.
How we think about the world and - perhaps even more importantly - how we narrate it have a massive significance, therefore, a thing that happens and is not told ceases to exist and perishes.
It is better to solve one problem five different ways, than to solve five problems one way.
You can serve or you can sing, and wreck your heart in prayer, working the world's hard work.
When workmen strive to do better than well, they do confound their skill in covetousness.
You can never solve a problem with the same kind of thinking that created the problem in the first place.
I never think of myself as wise. I think of myself as possessing a critical intelligence which I intend to allow to operate.
My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition.
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