Olga Tokarczuk, Nobel Prize-winning Polish writer, discusses the souls of animals, discovering feminism, and her home in Krajanów where she lived near translators of William Blake.
Olga Tokarczuk emphasizes the importance of creating multidimensional female characters who challenge societal norms and discusses her understanding of gender and patriarchy.
Tokarczuk contemplates religious systems and their relationship with guilt and sacrifice, highlighting the significance of recognizing the inner life and worth of all creatures.
Deep dives
Olga Tokarczuk's Writing Journey and Inspiration
Olga Tokarczuk, a Nobel Prize-winning writer, reflects on her writing journey and how her experiences and observations have shaped her literary work. Living in a remote village, Tokarczuk finds inspiration in the wilderness and eccentric individuals who have settled there. She discusses her time in London and how it influenced her understanding of gender and patriarchy. Tokarczuk highlights the importance of creating multidimensional female characters who challenge societal norms. She describes her writing process, from the initial fixation to the emergence of characters and their voices.
Religion, Sacrifice, and the Burden of Guilt
Tokarczuk contemplates religious systems and their relationship with guilt and sacrifice. Drawing on her Catholic background, she reflects on the legacy of animal sacrifice and the profound change brought by Jesus offering himself as a sacrifice. She questions the human tendency to kill animals for various purposes and the resulting alienation from nature. Tokarczuk emphasizes the significance of recognizing the inner life and worth of all creatures.
The Creative Process and Exhaustion
Tokarczuk discusses the completion and editing of her novels. She explains that when her energy and creative urge are depleted, she knows a text is ready for serious editing. She likens the writing process to a biological or psychosomatic act of reproduction or discharge, acknowledging the physical and mental strain it entails. Tokarczuk shares a personal experience of feeling physically ill after completing one of her novels, highlighting the immense labor and effort involved in maintaining concentration.
The Nobel Prize–winning Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk discusses the souls of animals, discovering feminism, and her home in the village of Krajanów where she was once neighbors with “three different translators of William Blake in an excerpt from her Art of Fiction interview with Marta Figlerowicz.
This episode was produced and sound-designed by John DeLore. Our theme song this season is “Shadow,” composed and performed by Ernst Reijseger.