when you arrive Olga Tokarczuk (Sulechów, 1962), Polish Nobel Prize winner with modern dreadlocks at the opening of the CCCB in Barcelona ‘Europe!’, A cycle in which the fate of the old continent would be debated, and as he himself notes with a touch of humour, the hairstyle could well be thought of as a ‘plica polonica’, a shapeless mass of matted hair that has existed since the 17th century. There are peasants as well as aristocrats, and there are those who, for better or worse, are associated with their homeland. That’s what he is: taking into account the stories of the past, telling them in today’s forms with the polyphonic novels he constructs like a “magpie” – the concept belongs to him – and stealing stories from here and there. that a new narrative emerges from them.
He did this with his best-known novel ‘travelers’ (‘Cos’ in Catalan) and now he’s doing it again with an ambitious giant company ‘The Books of Jacob’ (Anagrama), first published in 2014, with its 1064 pages numbered backwards (the last one being the number 1) and its tree-like plot, is based on the Jew, a fictional, perverted and surprisingly real character. Jacob FrankTraveling through the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Empire, meeting a thousand fascinating characters. “I discovered Jacob a while ago and was surprised that his wonderful story had been forgotten. I immediately thought that the situation in Europe 200 years ago was similar to the situation now: many people from other places (I refuse to talk about immigrants) had to negotiate while trying to cope with their own traditions and languages. with a new society. “This also meant that I could talk about Polish Jews beyond the Holocaust issue that is best known to me.”
Traveling Poles
For the author, the novel also meant talking about the lands through which the protagonist travels, which partly belongs to today’s Ukraine and overlaps with the homeland of his paternal family, who were forced to leave after the First World War. Her grandmother had four different passports before she went any further. There is nothing that a Pole does not have in his family history. The conflict was always there. “We Poles feel very involved in the war between Russia and Ukraine, a country that is very close to us and with which we share a border,” he notes.
Literature and art still have an impact on social life in general because they are such deep and sophisticated ways of communicating between people.
A cultivator of literature at the same time avant-garde and oldNobel Prize winner, a major activist for environmentalism, animal rights, feminism and LGTBI rights; an ideal combination to place oneself at the center of the political storm when the far right prevails, as it does in your country. Criticisms against the new fascists intensified with the adaptation of one of the author’s novels into the cinema. ‘On the bones of the dead’Directed by the master director Agnieska Netherlands. Both were branded as “anti-Christian” and promoting “terrorism.” This film greatly divided Polish society; A similar situation occurred in the Netherlands’ last film, ‘Green Border’; The incident takes place between Poland and Belarus and shows corrupt Polish police in a particularly heated environment, fueling ultra-nationalist demonstrations across the country. The climate is changing since Poland’s elections were held in three weeks. “Agnieska’s film is fantastic and very exciting, but she was attacked violently and she was forced to take cover. “I advised him to leave the country directly,” the author tells himself, and says that although he is a targeted figure of the current government, he has learned to live with it regardless: “When they attacked me, we went to court and the criminals were punished. The impressive thing about all this is that literature in general and to think about how art has an impact on social life in general, as there are very deep and sophisticated ways of communicating between people. For us creatives, it could be said that our heads are in the clouds, but we Warriors”.
Tokarczuk looks very supporter of Europeanism As a psychotherapist who has overcome nationalisms and has been an expert for years, he believes that we should look to the future optimistically, even going so far as to embrace what psychologists call psychotherapy. pollyanna syndrome In his character as a positive boy who develops a bomb-proof belief in the future: “I think Europe is the best idea invented in the last hundred years, and I’m very proud that it’s still doing pretty well, despite all the problems we have with immigration, climate change or political radicalization. I believe that we must do everything we can to continue together, and I say this from my perspective as a Polish citizen who sees what a difference his government is trying to make for the European Union. “Many of us in Poland are afraid of where this policy might lead us.”
Source: Informacion
Brandon Hall is an author at “Social Bites”. He is a cultural aficionado who writes about the latest news and developments in the world of art, literature, music, and more. With a passion for the arts and a deep understanding of cultural trends, Brandon provides engaging and thought-provoking articles that keep his readers informed and up-to-date on the latest happenings in the cultural world.