The writer Olga Tokarczuk was honored with the title of doctor honoris causa Sorbonne. The winner of the Nobel Literary Award received him during the ceremony at the famous Parisian university in the company of seven other winners from different continents.
– I am very happy to receive this honorable title (…). However, I am aware that I stand in front of the Academy as a newcomer from another world, from an unknown place and indefinite time, where neither scientific instruments (…), nor indexes and reviews play a significant role – said the writer, receiving the distinction on Tuesday.
Recalling the topic raised in one of her essays (from the book “Sweet Narrator”), she said about herself that “she comes from the land of Metaxa” (from the Greek word “between”) described by Plato. It is a space where the sources of myth are “beaten, stories are born (…) Here, characters from myths, fairy tales and ballads live. This is the world of art and literature,” said Tokarczuk.
Tokarczuk with the title of Sorbonne
She warned that “we found ourselves in a very uncertain, maybe even dangerous period of the world's history. The old political order seems to be scattered into dust, while the new, created before our eyes, takes on disturbing shapes.” In the war for leadership over the world, “information is used as a weapon, with which you can mislead, manipulate, deceive, deceive, and finally kill.” She argued that in this “reality of the ubiquitous lie” you have to take care of the non -employment of the “real contours of our world”, “especially when the hordes of counterfeiters pusher on us (…), capable of making black white, and vice versa.”
Tokarczuk asked where the place of literary fiction “in the war with falsehood, manipulation, disinformation, mystification, fake news” and this, “Do we still have the right to fantasy?”. She wondered what readers expect, who at the author's meetings ask her: “Do everything you describe is right?” – What should I tell them? That this is a truth that has never happened? she added. She confessed that when she “causes characters and stories,” she wonders: “Am I lying?”
– That's why today's ceremony is so important to me. I consider honoring me honoris causa as symbolic and political recognition by the Academy of our “land of Metaxis”, from which we all took and which we meet, still realistically, although without borders, passports and languages - said Tokarczuk.
Olga Tokarczuk awarded at the Sorbonne
Her speech was preceded by the honor of the Sorbonne authorities of four other personalities: Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, head of the International Climate Change Team James Ferguson Skea, British neurobiolboo Giovanny Mallucci and the Congish microbiologist, one of the Ebola virus discovers – Jean -Jacquesa Muyemb. The winners were presented successively in laudations. They appeared on the stage in the gowns and bills about colors, which – as Rector Bernard Beignier reminded – according to the Sorbonne tradition, they belong to various disciplines: gold – literature (hence the yellow color of the gown of Olga Tokarczuk – ed.), Light red – exact sciences and medicine. The titles of Honoris Causa were then received by: philologist and researcher of Aristotle's thoughts, professor at the University of Munich (LMI) Oliver Primavesi, a Canadian specialist in the fields of Neuronauki Remi Quirion and Ukrainian mathematician Maryna Wiazowska.
Laudacja Polska Nobel Prize winner was given by a literary scholar, lecturer Sorbonne, prof. Małgorzata Smorąg-Goldberg. She referred to the story of Tokarczuk “Stalin's finger”, in which – as she reminded – the finger of the dictator “lies on the map and decides, dictates: the border will take place here. And with it thousands of lives are turned up: resettlement and eradicated.”
– Dictatorship, from Latin dictare: repeat, speak, concerns words seized, derailed by politics, devoid of their meaning, abducted, installed – said in the laudation of Smorąg -Goldberg. She added that “the writer comes to recover” words; “It restores their wealth and diversity.” Olga Tokarczuk's writing is a gesture of “opening, combining, making the world sound in its variable complexity,” summed up the researcher.
“Values that are underlying” Sorbonne
The ceremony of several hours took place in the great Sorbonne amphitheater – a representative room, in which celebrations, conferences and official speeches take place. The amphitheater was made available in 1889, and in 1975 it was recognized as a historical monument. A hall with an amphitheater arrangement, with ten stands on two floors can accommodate almost a thousand people. The space above the stage is decorated with fresco Pierre Puvis de Chavannes – allegory of the Sorbonne, as a female figure surrounded by other characters symbolizing the fields of science and art (including poetry, history, physics, botany and geometry).
The President of Sorbonne Nathalie Drach-TEMAM emphasized, addressing the heroes of the Tuesday ceremony: “You are joining the community of the Paris University (Sorbonne), because you embody openness to the world, reliability, solidarity, humanism, diversity, respect for the living, as well as freedom of beliefs and freedom of speech. The wealth of your career and your commitment To a significant extent to spread the values that are at the heart of our university. “
Efforts to award the title of Tokarczuk
As prof. Smorąg-Goldberg, efforts to award the honorable title of Olga Tokarczuk began in 2019, when the project of the Association of European Universities was created, which today is called 4EU+. Later, also in 2019, Olga Tokarczuk and her translator – Maryla Laurent, received the “Laure -Bataillon” award for the best literary translation into French (for the translation of “Jakub books”). On this occasion, a meeting was held at the Sorbonne, at which the then rector Jean Chambaz was present. It was he who gave the matter, but the Covid -19 pandemia stood in the way, and then – problems related to returning to normal activities. – Slowly, this reflection continued, and then (…) two years ago, the date and number of winners were established, “said Prof. Smorąg Goldberg. She emphasized that” these are the processes that take time. “
The honorable academic title awarded by Sorbon is the fourth, which was honored by Olga Tokarczuk foreign universities. Earlier, he did: Sofic University (2022), Hong Kong Baptist University (2022) and the University of Tel Aviv (2023). In Poland, she received the title of doctorate honorary at: Jagiellonian University (2021), Warsaw and Wrocław (2022), Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin (2024) and the University of Gdańsk (2024).
Source of the main photo: Markus Wissmann / Shutterstock.com