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Nowadays, as we have more and more ways of registering information and storing past events, including cameras, microphones, computers, we are susceptible to the luxury of quickly forgetting them. We jump from one thing to another with the assurance that someone else will deal with recording things. This not only "puts memory to sleep" but also makes it increasingly difficult to recall and retell an event. Thus, while seemingly communicating with ever greater ease, we struggle to describe things with the emotional charge and accuracy that are typical for older people. Our drawers are full with information that is not arranged by priority, important things coexist with insignificant ones, because no one has undertaken to sort it out and arrange it, and memories accumulate without any selective approach. Human memory has a natural tendency to codify, i.e. to hierarchize, and evaluate information, throwing out what is unnecessary and storing what is essential. No photo or hard drive can do this instead of us. This leads to putting things off, we start living at a great pace, confusing the important things with the insignificant, and communication sinks in the mire. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but if there are no words, a picture is just an incomprehensible, and ultimately meaningless, image on paper. This is because, for better or worse, we still think in words.

What other qualities must a writer (or the artist in general) have in addition to talent?

"Talent" is a debatable concept since its expression is largely dependent on the conditions and situation. Potentially the greatest writer could die without ever being aware of the fact that he was able to write for the simple reason that, for example, he was born in a village in Transylvania in 1367. Parenthetically, this is a good idea for a story! If we evade the topic of talent, which is difficult to consider and too populist and popular, we will see that it does not take just talent to create a finished work. Creativity requires great concentration and a kind of self-denial, so that the work dominates the creative "I". Only then will it acquire autonomy and self-sufficiency, i.e., it will look as if it was always over there and the artist has just “stumbled over” it. Concentrating on an object outside of themselves is difficult for many talented artists, not only because of narcissism (since it exists too), but also because "I" is their source of images, the "experimental animal" of emotions. It is true that artists go through the world more intensely and are especially sensitive to the good and the bad from the surrounding environment since this is part of their work. Then they have to kill the "guinea pig" of emotions and get into the workshop to deal not with them themselves but with their work.

And to use an analogy of sculpture: In Greek we say that a sculptural work must be "περίβλεπτο", which means, "to stand, be visible and equally perfect from every angle from which a person looks at it," not only frontally or from one side. That is the greatest contribution of ancient Greek sculpture. Similarly, a work of the written word should be separated from its creator and stand out in space, being properly proportioned from every angle one looks at it, without support and explanations. Everything must be justified, explained and motivated by the work itself, as though it has long existed there and the writer has excavated it from dust like an archaeologist. This, I think, is the greatest quality of a writer, the ability to move away from the self and the ego in order to find the work of art.

You mentioned that a writer, as in Sweden, should write secluded in a hut instead of wasting him or herself in the PR of hollow communication in terms of creative thinking and projects relating to his or her own assertion. How important is solitude for a writer?

Firstly, every writer writes in a unique way that is only applicable to him or her. Part of his or her job is to find this mode. However, the majority of writers need solitude to be able to concentrate and listen to their inner voice, which some call talent, others inspiration, and a third group dedication and devotion. Every human activity that requires concentration, not just the creative one, needs some solitude. Artists, however, as they are very vulnerable to their surroundings – they are literally sponges for all kinds of irritants – need solitude to be able to "filter" and process everything that "rushes" into them. Especially the people of the word are even more exposed to the surrounding environment, as speech is the predominant means of communication, it is something we all use by default, something that does not happen in painting or music. Words heard in casual meetings can echo in the mind of a writer for hours, making him or her unable to hear his or her own voice. A violinist or other classical musician can suffer the same if he or she ends up at a rock concert, but he or she could avoid it if they wish, whereas we cannot hide from the speech and words around us. Therefore, a hut in the woods would certainly be a godsend for many writers. A prerequisite, however, is the rare visits to the human world because a voice that hears only itself can become monotonous and authoritarian. Artists in general need to be selective and careful in terms of the manner and frequency with which they expose themselves to the audience. Because if they are "overexposed" they risk losing what has originally made ​​them desirable and interesting, namely their particular voice.