To me, there is nothing higher than fiction. Nothing. It is fundamentally who I am. I am a teller of stories. For me, that's the only way I can make sense of the world, with all the dance that it involves.
Arundhati RoyRead
When she listened to songs that she loved on the radio, something stirred inside her. A liquid ache spread under her skin, and she walked out of the world like a witch.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote captures the deep emotional connection between music and personal experience.
In this quote, Arundhati Roy illustrates how music evokes profound feelings and transforms one's perception of reality. The imagery of a 'liquid ache' suggests a visceral response to the songs that resonates within, allowing the listener to transcend ordinary life and experience a sense of magic and freedom, akin to that of a witch departing from the mundane world.
Themes
MusicEmotionExperienceTransformationConnection
In practice
Example use cases
This quote would be perfect for a discussion about the impact of music in arts education.
More from Arundhati Roy
All quotes →Caste is about dividing people up in ways that preclude every form of solidarity, because even in the lowest castes, there are divisions and sub-castes, and everyone's co-opted into the business of this hierarchical, silo-ised society.
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When I decided to write 'The God of Small Things', I had been working in cinema. It was almost a decision to downshift from there. I thought that 300 people would read it. But it created a platform of trust.
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In California, there are huge problems because of dams. I'm against big dams, per se, because I think that they are economically unfeasible. They're ecologically unsustainable. And they're hugely undemocratic.
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To call someone 'anti-American', indeed, to be anti-American, is not just racist, it's a failure of the imagination.
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The trouble is that once you see it, you can't unsee it. And once you've seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There's no innocence. Either way, you're accountable.
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