My year reading a book from every country in the world | Ann Morgan

Prevoditelj: Sonja Žarić Recezent: Ivan Stamenković

It's often said that you can tell a lot about a person

Često kažu da možete reći mnogo o osobi

by looking at what's on their bookshelves.

po onome što drže na policama za knjige.

What do my bookshelves say about me?

Što moje police za knjige kažu o meni?

Well, when I asked myself this question a few years ago,

Kad sam se pitala to pitanje prije par godina,

I made an alarming discovery.

otkrila sam nešto alarmantno.

I'd always thought of myself as a fairly cultured,

Uvijek sam se smatrala prilično kulturnom,

cosmopolitan sort of person.

kozmopolitskom vrstom osobe.

But my bookshelves told a rather different story.

No, moja polica za knjige mi je rekla drukčiju priču.

Pretty much all the titles on them

Gotovo svi naslovi na njima

were by British or North American authors,

su bili britanskih ili sjevernoameričkih autora,

and there was almost nothing in translation.

i nije bilo skoro ništa prijevoda.

Discovering this massive, cultural blind spot in my reading

Otkriće ove ogromne kulturne mrtve točke u mom čitanju

came as quite a shock.

je bio priličan šok.

And when I thought about it, it seemed like a real shame.

Kad sam razmislila o tome, činilo se kao velika šteta.

I knew there had to be lots of amazing stories out there

Znala sam da mora postojati mnoštvo nevjerojatnih priča tamo vani

by writers working in languages other than English.

koje su napisali pisci na drugim jezicima.

And it seemed really sad to think that my reading habits meant

Činilo se vrlo tužnim kad pomislim da moje čitalačke navike znače

I would probably never encounter them.

da ih vjerojatno nikad neću sresti.

So, I decided to prescribe myself

Tako da sam si odlučila prepisati

an intensive course of global reading.

intezivni kurs globalnog čitanja.

2012 was set to be a very international year for the UK;

2012 je trebala biti vrlo internacionalna godina za UK;

it was the year of the London Olympics.

to je bila godina Olimpijskih igara u Londonu.

And so I decided to use it as my time frame

Pa sam odlučila iskoristiti duh vremena

to try to read a novel, short story collection

da pročitam novelu, zbirku kratkih priča

or memoir from every country in the world.

ili memoare iz svake države svijeta.

And so I did.

To sam i napravila.

And it was very exciting

Bilo je vrlo uzbudljivo

and I learned some remarkable things

i naučila sam neke izvanredne stvari

and made some wonderful connections

i pronašla neke predivne veze

that I want to share with you today.

koje želim s vama danas podijeliti.

But it started with some practical problems.

Počelo je s nekim praktičnim problemima.

After I'd worked out which of the many different lists of countries in the world

Nakon što sam pronašla različite liste država na svijetu

to use for my project,

koje ću koristiti u ovom projektu,

I ended up going with the list of UN-recognized nations,

završila sam sa listom država priznatih od strane UN-a,

to which I added Taiwan,

kojoj sam dodala Taiwan,

which gave me a total of 196 countries.

što mi je dalo ukupno 196 država naposljetku.

And after I'd worked out how to fit reading and blogging

Nakon što sam smislila kako ću pisati blog i čitati

about, roughly, four books a week

oko četiri knjige na tjedan

around working five days a week,

tijekom pet radnih dana u tjednu,

I then had to face up to the fact that I might even not be able

onda sam se morala suočiti s činjenicom da možda neću moći

to get books in English from every country.

ni nabaviti knjige na engleskom iz svake države.

Only around 4.5 percent of the literary works published

Samo oko 4.5 posto književnih djela objavljenih

each year in the UK are translations,

svake godine u UK-u su prijevodi,

and the figures are similar for much of the English-speaking world.

a brojke su slične za većinu svijeta u kojem se priča engleski.

Although, the proportion of translated books published

Iako, omjer prevedenih knjiga objavljenih

in many other countries is a lot higher.

u mnoštvu drugih država je puno veći.

4.5 percent is tiny enough to start with,

4.5 posto je dovoljan za početak,

but what that figure doesn't tell you

no ono što vam ova brojka ne govori

is that many of those books will come from countries

je da mnoštvo ovih knjiga dolazi iz država

with strong publishing networks

s jakim izdavačkim mrežama

and lots of industry professionals primed to go out and sell those titles

i mnoštvo stručnjaka u industriji je spremno otići i prodati ove naslove

to English-language publishers.

engleskim izdavačima.

So, for example, although well over 100 books are translated from French

Iako je, na primjer, preko 100 knjiga prevedeno s francuskog

and published in the UK each year,

i objavljeno u UK-u svake godine,

most of them will come from countries like France or Switzerland.

većina ih dolazi iz država kao što su Francuska ili Švicarska.

French-speaking Africa, on the other hand,

S druge strane, dio Afrike u kojem se priča francuski

will rarely ever get a look-in.

će rijetko itko pogledati.

The upshot is that there are actually quite a lot of nations

Ishod je da postoji prilično mnogo naroda

that may have little or even no commercially available literature

koji imaju malo ili čak nemaju ništa dostupne književnosti na tržištu

in English.

na engleskom.

Their books remain invisible to readers

Njihove knjige su ostale nevidljive čitateljima

of the world's most published language.

najizdavanijeg jezika na svijetu.

But when it came to reading the world,

No, kad je došlo do čitanja svijeta,

the biggest challenge of all for me

najveći izazov za mene

was that fact that I didn't know where to start.

je bila činjenica da ne znam odakle početi.

Having spent my life reading almost exclusively British

Čitajući cijelog života skoro isključivo britanske

and North American books,

i sjevernoameričke knjige,

I had no idea how to go about sourcing and finding stories

nisam imala pojma kako pronaći priče

and choosing them from much of the rest of the world.

i izabrati upravo njih između ostatka svijeta.

I couldn't tell you how to source a story from Swaziland.

Nisam znala kako pronaći priču iz Swazilanda.

I wouldn't know a good novel from Namibia.

Ne bih znala dobar roman iz Namibije.

There was no hiding it --

Nisam to mogla sakriti --

I was a clueless literary xenophobe.

bila sam neinformirani književni ksenofob.

So how on earth was I going to read the world?

Kako sam onda mogla pročitati svijet?

I was going to have to ask for help.

Morala sam potražiti pomoć.

So in October 2011, I registered my blog,

U listopadu 2011. godine sam registrirala svoj blog,

ayearofreadingtheworld.com,

ayearofreadingtheworld.com

and I posted a short appeal online.

i objavila kratki poziv u pomoć online.

I explained who I was,

Objasnila sam tko sam,

how narrow my reading had been,

koliko je usko moje područje čitanja bilo,

and I asked anyone who cared to

i pitala bilo koga, tko želi

to leave a message suggesting what I might read

da mi ostavi poruku preporuke što bih mogla čitati

from other parts of the planet.

iz drugih dijelova planeta.

Now, I had no idea whether anyone would be interested,

Nisam imala pojma hoće li itko biti zainteresiran,

but within a few hours of me posting that appeal online,

no unutar par sati od moje objave,

people started to get in touch.

ljudi su se krenuli javljati.

At first, it was friends and colleagues.

Prvo su to bili prijatelji i kolege.

Then it was friends of friends.

Onda prijatelji prijatelja.

And pretty soon, it was strangers.

A uskoro i stranci.

Four days after I put that appeal online,

Četiri dana nakon moje objave,

I got a message from a woman called Rafidah in Kuala Lumpur.

dobila sam poruku od žene imena Rafidah iz Kuala Lumpura.

She said she loved the sound of my project,

Rekla je da joj se sviđa moj projekt,

could she go to her local English-language bookshop

i može li otići u lokalnu knjižaru na engleskom

and choose my Malaysian book and post it to me?

i izabrati Malezijsku knjigu i poslati mi?

I accepted enthusiastically,

Prihvatila sam entuzijastično,

and a few weeks later,

i nekoliko tjedana poslije,

a package arrived containing not one, but two books --

mi je stigao paket s, ne jednom, već dvije knjige --

Rafidah's choice from Malaysia,

Rafidahin izbor iz Malezije,

and a book from Singapore that she had also picked out for me.

i knjiga iz Singapura koju je, također, izabrala za mene.

Now, at the time, I was amazed

U to vrijeme, bila sam oduševljena

that a stranger more than 6,000 miles away

da bi se stranac više od 9600 km udaljen

would go to such lengths to help someone

toliko potrudi da pomogne nekome

she would probably never meet.

koga vjerojatno nikad neće sresti.

But Rafidah's kindness proved to be the pattern for that year.

No Rafidahina dobrota se pokazala kao uzorak te godine.

Time and again, people went out of their way to help me.

Svaki put iznova, ljudi su se jako potrudili da bi mi pomogli.

Some took on research on my behalf,

Neki su istražili temu u moje ime,

and others made detours on holidays and business trips

a neki su napravili skretanje sa odmora i poslovnih putovanja

to go to bookshops for me.

da bi obišli knjižare za mene.

It turns out, if you want to read the world,

Ispada, da ako želite pročitati svijet,

if you want to encounter it with an open mind,

ako ga želite susresti otvorenog uma,

the world will help you.

svijet će vam pomoći.

When it came to countries

Kad se radilo o državama

with little or no commercially available literature in English,

s malo ili nimalo komercijalno dostupne književnosti na engleskom,

people went further still.

ljudi su otišli još dalje.

Books often came from surprising sources.

Knjige su često stizale s nevjerojatnih izvora.

My Panamanian read, for example, came through a conversation

Moja knjiga iz Paname, na primjer, došla je preko razgovora

I had with the Panama Canal on Twitter.

sa Panamskim kanalom na Twitteru.

Yes, the Panama Canal has a Twitter account.

Da, Panamski kanal ima Twitter račun.

And when I tweeted at it about my project,

I kad sam im tvitala o svom projektu,

it suggested that I might like to try and get hold of the work

predložili su mi da nabavim rad

of the Panamanian author Juan David Morgan.

panamskog autora Juana Davida Morgana.

I found Morgan's website and I sent him a message,

Pronašla sam Morganovu web stranicu i poslala mu poruku,

asking if any of his Spanish-language novels

s pitanjem jel ijedan od njegovih romana na španjolskom

had been translated into English.

preveden na engleski.

And he said that nothing had been published,

Odgovorio mi je da ništa nije izdano,

but he did have an unpublished translation

no da ima neobjavljen prijevod

of his novel "The Golden Horse."

romana "Zlatni konj,"

He emailed this to me,

Poslao mi ga je emailom

allowing me to become one of the first people ever

omogućujući da postanem jedna od prvih ljudi

to read that book in English.

koji će pročitati ovu knjigu na engleskom.

Morgan was by no means the only wordsmith

Morgan nije bio jedini umjetnik

to share his work with me in this way.

koji je podjelio svoj rad sa mnom na ovaj način.

From Sweden to Palau,

Od Švedske do Palaua,

writers and translators sent me self-published books

pisci i prevoditelji su mi slali samostalno objavljene knjige

and unpublished manuscripts of books

i neobjavljene rukopise knjiga

that hadn't been picked up by Anglophone publishers

koje nisu izabrali anglofilni izdavači

or that were no longer available,

ili koje više nisu dostupne,

giving me privileged glimpses of some remarkable imaginary worlds.

pružajući mi privilegirane uvide u neke od izvanrednih imaginarnih svjetova.

I read, for example,

Čitala sam, na primjer,

about the Southern African king Ngungunhane, who led the resistance

o južnoafričkom kralju Ngungunhane, koji je poveo pokret otpora

against the Portuguese in the 19th century;

protiv Portugalaca u 19. stoljeću;

and about marriage rituals in a remote village

o svadbenim ritualima u zabačenom selu

on the shores of the Caspian sea in Turkmenistan.

na obalama Kaspijskog jezera u Turkmenistanu.

I met Kuwait's answer to Bridget Jones.

Naišla sam na kuvajtski odgovor na Bridget Jones.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

And I read about an orgy in a tree in Angola.

Čitala sam o orgijama u drvetu u Angoli.

But perhaps the most amazing example

No, možda je najnevjerojatniji primjer

of the lengths that people were prepared to go to

koliko daleko su ljudi spremni otići

to help me read the world,

da bi mi pomogli pročitati svijet,

came towards the end of my quest,

stigao na kraju mog pothvata,

when I tried to get hold of a book from the tiny, Portuguese-speaking

kada sam pokušala pronaći knjigu iz male portugalske

African island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe.

afričke otočne države Sveti Toma i Prinsipe.

Now, having spent several months trying everything I could think of to find

Provela sam nekoliko mjeseci pokušavajući sve što sam se mogla sjetiti da pronađem

a book that had been translated into English from the nation,

knjigu prevedenu na engleski iz države,

it seemed as though the only option left to me

činilo se da je jedina opcija koja mi je ostala

was to see if I could get something translated for me from scratch.

da probam vidjeti hoće li netko prevesti nešto za mene od početka.

Now, I was really dubious

Bila sam vrlo sumnjičava

whether anyone was going to want to help with this,

hoće li mi netko pomoći s ovim,

and give up their time for something like that.

i posvetiti svoje vrijeme nečemu ovakvom.

But, within a week of me putting a call out on Twitter and Facebook

No, unutar jednog tjedna otkad sam uputila poziv na Twitteru i Facebooku

for Portuguese speakers,

za ljude koji pričaju portugalski,

I had more people than I could involve in the project,

imala sam više ljudi nego što sam mogla uključiti u ovaj projekt,

including Margaret Jull Costa, a leader in her field,

uključujući Margaret Jull Costa, predvodnicu u ovom području,

who has translated the work of Nobel Prize winner José Saramago.

koja je prevela rad nobelovca Joséa Saramaga.

With my nine volunteers in place,

Sa svojih devet volontera na mjestu,

I managed to find a book by a São Toméan author

uspjela sam pronaći knjigu autora iz Svetog Tome

that I could buy enough copies of online.

čijih sam kopija mogla kupiti dovoljno online.

Here's one of them.

Evo jedna od njih.

And I sent a copy out to each of my volunteers.

Poslala sam kopiju svakom dobrovoljcu.

They all took on a couple of short stories from this collection,

Svatko od njih je uzeo nekoliko kratkih priča iz ove kolekcije,

stuck to their word, sent their translations back to me,

održali su svoju riječ i poslali mi svoje prijevode,

and within six weeks, I had the entire book to read.

i unutar šest tjedana sam imala cijelu knjigu za pročitati.

In that case, as I found so often during my year of reading the world,

U tom slučaju, kao što sam otkrila često tijekom moje godine čitanja svijeta,

my not knowing and being open about my limitations

moje neznanje i otvorenost o mojim ograničenjima

had become a big opportunity.

je postala velika prilika.

When it came to São Tomé and Príncipe,

Što se tiče Svetog Tome i Prinsipea,

it was a chance not only to learn something new

to je bila prilika ne samo da naučim nešto novo

and discover a new collection of stories,

i otkrijem novu zbirku priča,

but also to bring together a group of people

nego da povežem grupu ljudi

and facilitate a joint creative endeavor.

i olakšam zajednički kreativni pothvat.

My weakness had become the project's strength.

Moja slabost je postala snaga projekta.

The books I read that year opened my eyes to many things.

Knjige koje sam pročitala te godine su otvorile moje oči za mnoštvo stvari.

As those who enjoy reading will know,

Svi oni koji uživaju u čitanju znaju,

books have an extraordinary power to take you out of yourself

da knjige imaju nevjerojatnu moć da vas odmaknu od samog sebe

and into someone else's mindset,

i stave u tuđe cipele,

so that, for a while at least,

tako da, makar privremeno,

you look at the world through different eyes.

gledate svijet drugim očima.

That can be an uncomfortable experience,

Ovo može biti neugodno iskustvo,

particularly if you're reading a book

posebno ako čitate knjigu

from a culture that may have quite different values to your own.

iz kulture koja je prilično drukčija od vaše vlastite.

But it can also be really enlightening.

No, može biti i vrlo prosvjetljujuće.

Wrestling with unfamiliar ideas can help clarify your own thinking.

Hrvanje s nepoznatim idejama može pomoći razbistriti vlastito razmišljanje.

And it can also show up blind spots

I može, također, pokazati mrtve točke

in the way you might have been looking at the world.

u načinu na koji ste dosad gledati svijet.

When I looked back at much of the English-language literature

Kad pogledam većinu književnosti na engleskom jeziku

I'd grown up with, for example,

uz koju sam odrasla, na primjer,

I began to see how narrow a lot of it was,

uviđam koliko je uska većina bila,

compared to the richness that the world has to offer.

u usporedbi s bogatstvom koje svijet priža.

And as the pages turned,

I kako su se stranice okretale,

something else started to happen, too.

nešto drugo se, također, počelo događati.

Little by little,

Malo po malo,

that long list of countries that I'd started the year with, changed

ta dugačka lista država s kojom sam započela godinu se promjenila

from a rather dry, academic register of place names

iz prilično suhoparnog, akademskog registra imena mjesta

into living, breathing entities.

u živuće, dišuće entitete.

Now, I don't want to suggest that it's at all possible

Ne govorim da je moguće

to get a rounded picture of a country simply by reading one book.

dobiti cjeloukupnu sliku države čitajući samo jedne knjige.

But cumulatively, the stories I read that year

No kumulativno, priče koje sam pročitala te godine

made me more alive than ever before

su me oživjele više nego ikad

to the richness, diversity and complexity of our remarkable planet.

za bogatstvo, različitost i složenost našeg izvanrednog planeta.

It was as though the world's stories

Bilo je kao da su ih svjetske priče

and the people who'd gone to such lengths to help me read them

i ljudi koji su se toliko potrudili da mi pomognu pročitati ih

had made it real to me.

učinili stvarnijima.

These days, when I look at my bookshelves

Ovih dana, kad pogledam na svoju policu za knjige

or consider the works on my e-reader,

ili promotrim djela na mom e-čitaču,

they tell a rather different story.

govore prilično drukčiju priču.

It's the story of the power books have to connect us

To je priča o snazi koju knjige imaju da nas povežu

across political, geographical, cultural, social, religious divides.

usprkos političkim, geografskim, kulturnim, socijalnim, religijskim podjelama.

It's the tale of the potential human beings have to work together.

To je priča o potencijalu koji ljudska bića imaju kad rade zajedno.

And, it's testament

I to je svjedočanstvo

to the extraordinary times we live in, where, thanks to the Internet,

nevjerojatnog doba u kojem živimo, gdje je, zahvaljujući internetu,

it's easier than ever before

lakše nego ikad prije

for a stranger to share a story, a worldview, a book

da stranac podjeli priču, svjetonazor, knjigu

with someone she may never meet, on the other side of the planet.

s nekim koga možda nikad neće sresti, na drugom kraju planeta.

I hope it's a story I'm reading for many years to come.

Nadam se da je to priča koju ću čitati još mnoštvo godina.

And I hope many more people will join me.

Nadam se da će mi se više ljudi pridružiti.

If we all read more widely, there'd be more incentive

Kad bi svi čitali šire, bio bi to poticaj

for publishers to translate more books,

da izdavači prevedu više knjiga,

and we would all be richer for that.

i svi bi bili bogatiji zbog toga.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)