Collage Quote by Michael Ondaatje
“You are doing something over here and over there someone is telling you a joke, or giving you an important piece of information about sanitation, and no matter how weird the other subject is, there is a connection, or you can make a connection. I’ve always loved history and history is collage, it is a juxtaposition of the good and the bad and the strange, and how you place those sentences together changes the whole mood of a history.”
About This Quote
Source Novel: "In the Skin of a Lion" by Michael Ondaatje, 1987
History is a collage where disparate facts and narratives intertwine, reshaping our perception of the past through connections we make.
In simple terms: History as a collage of connections.
Key Takeaway
Seek links to reinterpret events.
Themes
history
collage
connections
interpretation
Mood
reflective
inquisitive
Type
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- teaching
- museum curation
- writing
- personal research
Key Concepts
narrative theory
memory studies
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you decide which links are meaningful?
- What biases affect your historical collage?
A Different Perspective
Connections may be forced or misleading.
