Literary Tuesday: Lehte Hainsalu, “Absolutely. Evenings with Books”

Lehte Hainsalu presents her book “Absoluutselt. Õhtud raamatutega” (EKSA). Piret Bristol talks with the author.

“Anyone who reads a lot accumulates poems and passages, underlinings, excerpts and things committed to memory that often speak to them again, shape them and reveal them to themselves. They say that a reader grows with a book, but then the reader must have a book of their own to read again. A book read once is like a hot hit that plays and disappears, while the core of one’s bookshelves can be like ancestral recorded opera voices from several centuries, several continents and several languages. Yet voices with different energies do not become a cacophony, though one might fear they would: soprano goes nicely with tenor, even if each has its own words and melody. One could say that a book grows with its reader: a new reader finds their own contemporary thoughts in a very old book, since interest in human nature and the meaning of life has always been the same. Each person has their own explanation of the world. This book (like fiction in general) contains neither science nor ultimate truth; it contains feelings and reflections, the truth of experience and the truth of recognition. All my truths are true for me; I invite you to think along, think against, and think further.” — Lehte Hainsalu

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The programme of Tartu Kirjanduse Maja is supported by the City of Tartu and the Cultural Endowment of Estonia. Events at Tartu Kirjanduse Maja are part of the Kirjanduslinn Tartu programme. Read more