What fear can teach us | Karen Thompson Walker

Translator: Morton Bast Reviewer: Thu-Huong Ha

Translator: Nikolaj Johansen Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

One day in 1819,

En dag i 1819,

3,000 miles off the coast of Chile,

4.800 kilometer fra Chiles kyst,

in one of the most remote regions of the Pacific Ocean,

i en af de mest øde dele af Stillehavet,

20 American sailors watched their ship flood with seawater.

så 20 amerikanske sejlere deres skib fyldes af havvand.

They'd been struck by a sperm whale, which had ripped

En kaskelothval havde lavet

a catastrophic hole in the ship's hull.

et katastrofalt hul i skibets skrog.

As their ship began to sink beneath the swells,

Mens skibet sank i havet,

the men huddled together in three small whaleboats.

pressede mændene sig sammen i tre små hvalbåde.

These men were 10,000 miles from home,

De var 16.000 kilometer hjemmefra,

more than 1,000 miles from the nearest scrap of land.

mere end 1.600 kilometer fra land.

In their small boats, they carried only

I deres små både medbragte de kun

rudimentary navigational equipment

basalt navigationsudstyr

and limited supplies of food and water.

og en begrænset mængde mad og vand.

These were the men of the whaleship Essex,

Det var mændene fra hvalfangeren Essex,

whose story would later inspire parts of "Moby Dick."

som inspirerede dele af "Moby Dick".

Even in today's world, their situation would be really dire,

Selv i dag ville det være en skrækkelig situation,

but think about how much worse it would have been then.

men overvej, hvor slemt det var dengang.

No one on land had any idea that anything had gone wrong.

Ingen på land vidste, at der var gået noget galt.

No search party was coming to look for these men.

Ingen ville komme og lede efter disse mænd.

So most of us have never experienced a situation

De fleste af os har aldrig oplevet noget så skræmmende

as frightening as the one in which these sailors found themselves,

som disse sømænd,

but we all know what it's like to be afraid.

men vi kender alle til at være bange.

We know how fear feels,

Vi ved, hvordan frygt føles,

but I'm not sure we spend enough time thinking about

men jeg tror ikke, vi tænker nok over,

what our fears mean.

hvad vores frygt betyder.

As we grow up, we're often encouraged to think of fear

Som børn opdrages vi til at opfatte frygt

as a weakness, just another childish thing to discard

som en svaghed, vi skal lægge fra os

like baby teeth or roller skates.

ligesom mælketænder eller rulleskøjter.

And I think it's no accident that we think this way.

Og det er ikke tilfældigt, vi tænker sådan.

Neuroscientists have actually shown that human beings

Neuroforskere har vist, at mennesker

are hard-wired to be optimists.

er biologisk bestemt til at være optimister.

So maybe that's why we think of fear, sometimes,

Måske er det derfor, vi nogle gange opfatter frygt

as a danger in and of itself.

som farligt i sig selv.

"Don't worry," we like to say to one another. "Don't panic."

"Bare rolig," siger vi. "Lad være med at gå i panik."

In English, fear is something we conquer.

På engelsk er frygt noget, vi overvinder.

It's something we fight. It's something we overcome.

Noget vi kæmper imod. Noget vi besejrer.

But what if we looked at fear in a fresh way?

Men hvad hvis vi så på frygt med andre øjne?

What if we thought of fear as an amazing act of the imagination,

Hvad hvis vi tænkte på frygt som udslag for en utrolig fantasi,

something that can be as profound and insightful

noget der kan være lige så dybt og indsigtsfuldt

as storytelling itself?

som historiefortælling?

It's easiest to see this link between fear and the imagination

Det er lettest at se båndet mellem frygt og fantasi

in young children, whose fears are often extraordinarily vivid.

i små børn, som tit er bange for vilde ting.

When I was a child, I lived in California,

Som barn boede jeg i Californien,

which is, you know, mostly a very nice place to live,

der er et rigtigt dejligt sted at bo,

but for me as a child, California could also be a little scary.

men for mig kunne Californien også være skræmmende.

I remember how frightening it was to see the chandelier

Jeg husker, hvor uhyggeligt det var at se lysekronen over vores bord

that hung above our dining table swing back and forth

svinge frem og tilbage

during every minor earthquake,

under hvert lille jordskælv.

and I sometimes couldn't sleep at night, terrified

Nogle gange kunne jeg ikke sove om natten

that the Big One might strike while we were sleeping.

af frygt for et stort jordskælv.

And what we say about kids who have fears like that

Og hvad siger vi om børn, der er bange for den slags?

is that they have a vivid imagination.

De har en livlig fantasi.

But at a certain point, most of us learn

Men de fleste af os lærer med tiden

to leave these kinds of visions behind and grow up.

at glemme de forestillinger og vokse op.

We learn that there are no monsters hiding under the bed,

Vi lærer, at der ikke er nogen monstre under sengen,

and not every earthquake brings buildings down.

og ikke alle jordskælv river bygninger ned.

But maybe it's no coincidence that some of our most creative minds

Men måske er det ikke tilfældigt, at de mest kreative hjerner

fail to leave these kinds of fears behind as adults.

ikke lægger deres frygt fra sig som voksne.

The same incredible imaginations that produced "The Origin of Species,"

De samme fantasier, som skabte "Arternes oprindelse",

"Jane Eyre" and "The Remembrance of Things Past,"

"Jane Eyre" og "På sporet af den tabte tid"

also generated intense worries that haunted the adult lives

gav også intense bekymringer gennem hele livet

of Charles Darwin, Charlotte BrontĂŤ and Marcel Proust.

for Charles Darwin, Charlotte Brontë og Marcel Proust.

So the question is, what can the rest of us learn about fear

Spørgsmålet er, hvad vi kan lære om frygt

from visionaries and young children?

fra genier og små børn?

Well let's return to the year 1819 for a moment,

Lad os vende tilbage til år 1819

to the situation facing the crew of the whaleship Essex.

og mandskabet på hvalfangeren Essex.

Let's take a look at the fears that their imaginations

Lad os se, hvilke rædsler deres fantasi skabte,

were generating as they drifted in the middle of the Pacific.

mens de drev rundt midt på Stillehavet.

Twenty-four hours had now passed since the capsizing of the ship.

Der var gået 24 timer, siden skibet kæntrede.

The time had come for the men to make a plan,

Det var på tide at lægge en plan,

but they had very few options.

men de havde meget få muligheder.

In his fascinating account of the disaster,

I sin fascinerende beretning om katastrofen

Nathaniel Philbrick wrote that these men were just about

skrev Nathaniel Philbrick, at disse mænd var omtrent

as far from land as it was possible to be anywhere on Earth.

så langt fra land, som det er muligt at være på jorden.

The men knew that the nearest islands they could reach

De vidste, at de nærmeste øer

were the Marquesas Islands, 1,200 miles away.

var Marquesas-øerne, 1.900 kilometer væk.

But they'd heard some frightening rumors.

Men de havde hørt skræmmende rygter.

They'd been told that these islands,

De havde hørt, at disse øer

and several others nearby, were populated by cannibals.

og flere andre i nærheden var beboet af kannibaler.

So the men pictured coming ashore only to be murdered

Så mændene frygtede at gå i land for så at blive myrdet

and eaten for dinner.

og spist til middag.

Another possible destination was Hawaii,

En anden mulig destination var Hawaii,

but given the season, the captain was afraid

men kaptajnen var bange for,

they'd be struck by severe storms.

at de ville blive ramt af alvorligt stormvejr.

Now the last option was the longest, and the most difficult:

Den sidste mulighed var den længste og sværeste,

to sail 1,500 miles due south in hopes of reaching

at sejle 2.400 kilometer stik syd

a certain band of winds that could eventually

for at nå en bestemt luftstrøm,

push them toward the coast of South America.

der kunne blæse dem mod Sydamerikas kyst.

But they knew that the sheer length of this journey

Men de vidste, at længden af den rejse

would stretch their supplies of food and water.

ville tømme deres forsyning af mad og vand.

To be eaten by cannibals, to be battered by storms,

At blive spist af kannibaler, knust af stormvejr,

to starve to death before reaching land.

sulte ihjel på åbent hav.

These were the fears that danced in the imaginations of these poor men,

Det var, hvad disse stakler frygtede,

and as it turned out, the fear they chose to listen to

og den frygt de valgte at lytte til

would govern whether they lived or died.

ville afgøre, om de levede eller døde.

Now we might just as easily call these fears by a different name.

Vi kunne også kalde denne frygt noget andet.

What if instead of calling them fears,

Hvad om vi i stedet for at kalde det frygt

we called them stories?

kaldte det historier?

Because that's really what fear is, if you think about it.

For det er, hvad frygt i virkeligheden er.

It's a kind of unintentional storytelling

En form for ufrivillig historiefortælling,

that we are all born knowing how to do.

som vi alle kan lige fra fødslen.

And fears and storytelling have the same components.

Og frygt og historiefortælling har de samme elementer.

They have the same architecture.

De har samme struktur.

Like all stories, fears have characters.

Ligesom historier har frygt karakterer.

In our fears, the characters are us.

I vores frygt er karakterne os selv.

Fears also have plots. They have beginnings and middles and ends.

Frygt har også et plot med begyndelse, midte og slutning.

You board the plane. The plane takes off. The engine fails.

Du stiger på flyet. Flyet letter. Motoren sætter ud.

Our fears also tend to contain imagery that can be

Vores frygt maler også billeder,

every bit as vivid as what you might find in the pages of a novel.

der er lige så fantasifulde som i en roman.

Picture a cannibal, human teeth

Forestil dig en kannibal, mennesketænder

sinking into human skin,

der bider i menneskehud

human flesh roasting over a fire.

menneskehud, der steger over et bål.

Fears also have suspense.

Frygt indeholder også spænding.

If I've done my job as a storyteller today,

Hvis jeg har været en god historiefortæller,

you should be wondering what happened

burde I spekulere over,

to the men of the whaleship Essex.

hvad der blev af mandskabet.

Our fears provoke in us a very similar form of suspense.

Vores frygt skaber en lignende form for spænding.

Just like all great stories, our fears focus our attention

Ligesom alle gode historier får frygten os til at fokusere på

on a question that is as important in life as it is in literature:

et spørgsmål, der er lige vigtigt i livet og i litteraturen.

What will happen next?

Hvad sker der nu?

In other words, our fears make us think about the future.

Vores frygt får os altså til at tænke på fremtiden.

And humans, by the way, are the only creatures capable

Og mennesker er de eneste skabninger,

of thinking about the future in this way,

som kan tænke på fremtiden,

of projecting ourselves forward in time,

se os selv længere fremme i tiden,

and this mental time travel is just one more thing

og den mentale tidsrejse er endnu en ting,

that fears have in common with storytelling.

frygt har til fælles med historiefortælling.

As a writer, I can tell you that a big part of writing fiction

Som forfatter ved jeg, at en stor del af at skrive

is learning to predict how one event in a story

er at forudsige, hvordan en hændelse

will affect all the other events,

påvirker alt andet.

and fear works in that same way.

Frygt fungerer på samme måde.

In fear, just like in fiction, one thing always leads to another.

Ligesom i fiktionen fører en ting den næste med sig.

When I was writing my first novel, "The Age Of Miracles,"

Da jeg skrev min første roman, "Miraklernes tid",

I spent months trying to figure out what would happen

tænkte jeg i månedsvis over, hvad der ville ske,

if the rotation of the Earth suddenly began to slow down.

hvis Jordens rotation pludselig gik langsommere.

What would happen to our days? What would happen to our crops?

Hvad ville der ske med dagene? Med afgrøderne?

What would happen to our minds?

Hvad ville der ske med vores sind?

And then it was only later that I realized how very similar

Først senere gik det op for mig,

these questions were to the ones I used to ask myself

hvor meget de spørgsmål lignede dem,

as a child frightened in the night.

jeg stillede mig selv som et lille barn.

If an earthquake strikes tonight, I used to worry,

Hvis der kommer jordskælv i nat,

what will happen to our house? What will happen to my family?

hvad vil der så ske med vores hus? Med min familie?

And the answer to those questions always took the form of a story.

Og svarene tog altid form af en historie.

So if we think of our fears as more than just fears

Så hvis vi tænker på vores frygt som mere end frygt,

but as stories, we should think of ourselves

som historier, så bør vi tænke på os selv

as the authors of those stories.

som forfatterne til de historier.

But just as importantly, we need to think of ourselves

Men vi skal også tænke på os selv

as the readers of our fears, and how we choose

som læserne af vores frygt, og måden, vi læser vores frygt på,

to read our fears can have a profound effect on our lives.

kan påvirke vores liv enormt.

Now, some of us naturally read our fears more closely than others.

Nogle nærlæser selvfølgelig deres frygt mere end andre.

I read about a study recently of successful entrepreneurs,

I et studie om succesfulde iværksættere

and the author found that these people shared a habit

opdagede forskeren, at de havde noget til fælles,

that he called "productive paranoia," which meant that

"produktiv paranoia," som betød,

these people, instead of dismissing their fears,

at de i stedet for at affærdige deres frygt,

these people read them closely, they studied them,

nærlæste de dem, studerede dem

and then they translated that fear into preparation and action.

og bearbejdede den frygt til forberedelse og handling.

So that way, if their worst fears came true,

Så hvis deres værste frygt blev til virkelighed,

their businesses were ready.

var de klar.

And sometimes, of course, our worst fears do come true.

Og nogle gange bliver vores værste frygt til virkelighed.

That's one of the things that is so extraordinary about fear.

Det er det særlige ved frygt.

Once in a while, our fears can predict the future.

Engang imellem kan vores frygt forudsige fremtiden.

But we can't possibly prepare for all of the fears

Men vi kan ikke forberede os på alt,

that our imaginations concoct.

hvad vi frygter.

So how can we tell the difference between

Så hvordan skelner vi mellem

the fears worth listening to and all the others?

den frygt, der er værd at lytte til, og alt det andet?

I think the end of the story of the whaleship Essex

Slutningen på historien om hvalfangerskibet

offers an illuminating, if tragic, example.

giver et oplysende, men tragisk eksempel.

After much deliberation, the men finally made a decision.

Langt om længe traf mændene en beslutning.

Terrified of cannibals, they decided to forgo the closest islands

Af frygt for kannibalerne på de nærmeste øer,

and instead embarked on the longer

valgte de den længere

and much more difficult route to South America.

og langt farligere rute til Sydamerika.

After more than two months at sea, the men ran out of food

Efter mere end to måneder løb de tør for mad,

as they knew they might,

som de havde forudset,

and they were still quite far from land.

og de var stadig langt fra land.

When the last of the survivors were finally picked up

Da de overlevende endelig blev samlet op

by two passing ships, less than half of the men were left alive,

af to skibe, var mindre end halvdelen af mændene i live

and some of them had resorted to their own form of cannibalism.

og nogle af dem havde selv tyet til kannibalisme.

Herman Melville, who used this story as research for "Moby Dick,"

Herman Melville brugte historien som research til "Moby Dick".

wrote years later, and from dry land, quote,

Han skrev senere inde fra land:

"All the sufferings of these miserable men of the Essex

"Alle det stakkels mandskabs pinsler,

might in all human probability have been avoided

kunne med al sandsynlighed være undgået,

had they, immediately after leaving the wreck,

hvis de straks efter katastrofen

steered straight for Tahiti.

havde sat kurs mod Tahiti.

But," as Melville put it, "they dreaded cannibals."

"Men," som Melville skrev, "de var bange for kannibalerne."

So the question is, why did these men dread cannibals

Men hvorfor frygtede disse mænd kannibalerne

so much more than the extreme likelihood of starvation?

så meget mere end den store sandsynlighed for at sulte ihjel?

Why were they swayed by one story

Hvorfor blev de overbevist af en historie

so much more than the other?

og ikke en anden?

Looked at from this angle,

Set i det lys

theirs becomes a story about reading.

bliver det en historie om fortolkning.

The novelist Vladimir Nabokov said that the best reader

Forfatteren Vladimir Nabokov sagde, at den bedste læser

has a combination of two very different temperaments,

har en kombination af to forskellige sind,

the artistic and the scientific.

det kunstneriske og det videnskabelige.

A good reader has an artist's passion,

En god læser har en kunstners lidenskab,

a willingness to get caught up in the story,

en villighed til at lade sig opsluge,

but just as importantly, the readers also needs

men læseren har også brug for

the coolness of judgment of a scientist,

videnskabsmandens kølige overblik,

which acts to temper and complicate

der dæmper og nuancerer

the reader's intuitive reactions to the story.

læserens intuitive reaktion på historien.

As we've seen, the men of the Essex had no trouble with the artistic part.

Som vi har set, havde sejlerne let ved den kunstneriske del.

They dreamed up a variety of horrifying scenarios.

De forestillede sig mange skrækscenarier

The problem was that they listened to the wrong story.

Problemet var, at de lyttede til den forkerte historie.

Of all the narratives their fears wrote,

Af alle de fortællinger, deres fantasi skrev

they responded only to the most lurid, the most vivid,

reagerede de på den mest makabre, den livligste,

the one that was easiest for their imaginations to picture:

den de havde lettest ved at forestille sig:

cannibals.

kannibaler.

But perhaps if they'd been able to read their fears

Men hvis de havde kunnet læse deres frygt

more like a scientist, with more coolness of judgment,

mere som en videnskabsmand, med køligt overblik,

they would have listened instead to the less violent

ville de have lyttet til den mindre voldelige

but the more likely tale, the story of starvation,

men mere sandsynlige historie om sultedød

and headed for Tahiti, just as Melville's sad commentary suggests.

og sat kurs mod Tahiti, som Melville bemærkede.

And maybe if we all tried to read our fears,

Hvis vi alle forsøgte at læse vores frygt,

we too would be less often swayed

ville vi måske ikke blive overbevist

by the most salacious among them.

af de mest slibrige.

Maybe then we'd spend less time worrying about

Så ville vi ikke tænke så meget på

serial killers and plane crashes,

seriemordere og flystyrt,

and more time concerned with the subtler

og mere på de umærkelige

and slower disasters we face:

og langsomme katastrofer.

the silent buildup of plaque in our arteries,

Forkalkningen af vores blodårer,

the gradual changes in our climate.

den gradvise forandring af klimaet.

Just as the most nuanced stories in literature are often the richest,

Ligesom de mest nuancerede historier tit er de bedste,

so too might our subtlest fears be the truest.

er den umærkelige frygt måske den vigtigste.

Read in the right way, our fears are an amazing gift

Fortolket rigtigt er vores frygt en fantastisk gave,

of the imagination, a kind of everyday clairvoyance,

en form for hverdagsclairvoyance,

a way of glimpsing what might be the future

en måde at se ind i fremtiden på,

when there's still time to influence how that future will play out.

mens vi stadig har tid til at påvirke den.

Properly read, our fears can offer us something as precious

Fortolket rigtigt kan vores frygt give os noget så dyrebart

as our favorite works of literature:

som vores yndlingsbøger:

a little wisdom, a bit of insight

en smule visdom, et gran indsigt

and a version of that most elusive thing --

og en version af det, som er allermest flygtigt.

the truth.

Sandheden.

Thank you. (Applause)

Tak. (Klapsalver)