A Horneyan Interpretation of Characters’ Personalities in Olga Tokarczuk’s Primeval and Other Times

Abstract

Interpreting literature from a psychoanalytic point of view has been popular, yet little research has touched upon Olga Tokarczuk’s Primeval and Other Times from the perspective of psychoanalysis. Based on Karen Horney’s anxiety theory, this paper analyzes the three main characters Cornspike, Misia and Paweł and their personalities in Primeval and Other Times. Through analyzing the manifestations and causes of the characters’ anxieties, their defensive strategies against anxieties, as well as the consequences of their struggles, this paper reveals that social and cultural environments have influenced the characters and endangered anxieties in them. Furthermore, only by flexibly applying defensive strategies can one effectively fight against such anxieties. This paper not only deals with literary values in interpreting Olga Tokarczuk’s Primeval and Other Times, but also has practical significance in arousing people’s awareness about building harmonious familial and social relationships.