“Tenderness is spontaneous and disinterested; it goes far beyond empathetic fellow feeling. Instead it is the conscious, though perhaps slightly melancholy, common sharing of fate. Tenderness is deep emotional concern about another being, its fragility, its unique nature, and its lack of immunity to suffering and the effects of time. Tenderness perceives the bonds that connect us, the similarities and sameness between us. It is a way of looking that shows the world as being alive, living, interconnected, cooperating with, and codependent on itself. Literature is built on tenderness toward any being other than ourselves. It is the basic psychological mechanism of the novel. Thanks to this miraculous tool, the most sophisticated means of human communication, our experience can travel through time, reaching those who have not yet been born, but who will one day turn to what we have written, the stories we told about ourselves and our world.” LiteratureCompassionEmpathyEmotionsConcernConnectionTenderness Author:Olga Tokarczuk
“Other people's life stories are not a topic for debate. One should hear them out, and reciprocate in the same coin.” StoriesCompassionListeningJudgmentHearingDebateReciprocity Book:Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Source: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead