Final answer:
Goldberg's quote illustrates the writer's versatility, likening them to an architect, a French cook, a farmer, and yet ultimately, they remain writers whose work encapsulates a wide variety of professions without being limited to any single one.
Step-by-step explanation:
When Goldberg suggests that a writer is all at once everything--an architect, French cook, farmer--and at the same time, none of these things, he is emphasizing the versatility of writers. Writers take on various roles through their work, embodying a multitude of professions and crafts to create complex, multifaceted work. However, in essence, they still adhere to their true identity as writers. This is because a writer, like a playwright, is a builder of narratives who must understand the multiplicity of elements that contribute to storytelling and the realization of their work in physical or performative forms.
Playwrights, for instance, are not just composers of dialogue but architects for the theatre, producing structures that will house future dramatic action. They must understand how their writing will come alive through actors, directors, and designers, much like an architect must envision how their structures will be used and experienced. Multilingual writers have the added advantage of being able to draw on a diverse linguistic and cultural inventory, further demonstrating the writer's capacity to embody different roles.
A writer's work often includes varied voices and registers, expressing paradoxes, contradictions, and a rich range of emotions. Similarly, the roles of directors and actors in theatre embody different specialties and talents—all vital in bringing the written word to life.