Olga Tokarczuk does not write for everyone. Everyone doesn’t need to read her books at all

– I never expected everyone to read and that my books should go to thatch. I do not want them to go to thatch. Literature is not for idiots. To read books you need to have some competence, a certain sensitivity, a certain understanding of the culture. These books that we write are somewhere suspended, they are always related to something – said Olga Tokarczuk during the Mountain of Literature Festival, which was established on her initiative in 2015. The Nobel laureate added:

I do not believe that a reader will come who knows nothing at all and suddenly becomes immersed in some literature and experiences catharsis there. I write my books for intelligent people who think, who feel, who have some sensitivity. I believe that my readers are similar to me, I am writing to my compatriots.

This statement became famous in the literary-pop culture bubble, when activist Maja Staśko commented on it. “Many idiots read books. Many tender, sensitive and empathetic people do not read books”, calling the words of the writer classist. There were words about unnecessary divisions, sadness (often expressed by the authors of books). In defense of Tokarczuk, incl. Karolina Korwin Piotrowska, a journalist and friend of Tokarczuk:

Not all books are for everyone. There are different sensitivities and different readiness for specific things, sentences, words, metaphors, stories, there is also different education, also emotional. Yes, some books aren’t for idiots. Fortunately. If it’s classism, well, shoot me.

The scandal in social media broke out on the day I picked up my ordered “Empuzjon”, the latest book by Olga Tokarczuk. And now I could brag about how important and enlightened I am, how much intelligent I am … But I won’t. Because, firstly, I am able to admit that I do not understand everything in Olga Tokarczuk’s prose, and secondly, I believe that both sides of this “conflict” are partly right and partly wrong.

Because such books are not for everyone. And although it would never occur to me in my life to speak publicly about my readers – or rather non-readers – “idiots” – every author has the right, and even obligation, to write for your the reader. Just as he imagines him to be. Let us not pretend that when we write we do not want to reach a particular audience, even if the writer in interviews claims that it is “a universal novel for a wide audience”. On the other hand, just as some people will argue at the Christmas Eve table that at the beginning it is just borscht with dumplings, and others counter with arguments about mushroom superiority, so everyone has the right to like and reach for such books as they want. It is known that there is better and worse literature (also within individual genres). In Poland, however, for the majority of society it is “not” at all.

In March 2022, 38% answered positively when asked by the National Library to read at least one book in the 12 months preceding the survey. respondents. It would be nice not to call them idiots, but rather encourage them to read the book. Let’s face it, however, that they should start with, for example, “Biegunów”. Indeed, not every book is for everyone. Tokarczuk’s books require certain competences, poetry requires certain competences – which does not mean that some people will not find beauty without them. For now, I put “Empuzjon” on the shelf, because I want to know how the next thriller I read will end. I didn’t get through “Biegunów”. I will come back to them or not. I have more important problems in my life.

Perhaps Tokarczuk should not say “I don’t believe”, and change it to “it is unlikely that a reader who completely knows nothing will come and will suddenly sink into some literature and experience catharsis there”. All [sic!] however, we are inclined to generalize.

Even with broad competences in one area, we may not understand something in another. And that’s not a reason to put yourself above others, any more than it is a reason to “defend the aggrieved.” Many people found out about it in 2019 on the occasion of the Nobel Prize. And they reached for her works or not. And that’s OK too.