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

Translator: Nika Kotnik Reviewer: Klavdija Cernilogar

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

Pogosto pravijo, da lahko veliko poveš o človeku

by looking at what's on their bookshelves.

po tem, kaj ima na knjižni polici.

What do my bookshelves say about me?

Kaj pravijo moje knjižne police o meni?

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

No, ko sem si pred nekaj leti postavila to vprašanje,

I made an alarming discovery.

sem odkrila nekaj šokantnega.

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

Vedno sem se imela za precej kultivirano,

cosmopolitan sort of person.

svetovljansko osebo.

But my bookshelves told a rather different story.

A moje knjižne police so pripovedovale drugačno zgodbo.

Pretty much all the titles on them

Praktično vse so napisali

were by British or North American authors,

britanski ali severnoameriški avtorji

and there was almost nothing in translation.

in skoraj nič ni bilo prevedeno.

Discovering this massive, cultural blind spot in my reading

Ko sem odkrila to ogromno slepo pego v svojem branju,

came as quite a shock.

sem bila precej šokirana.

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

In ko sem premišljevala o tem, se mi je zdelo škoda.

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

Vedela sem, da mora obstajati veliko neverjetnih zgodb

by writers working in languages other than English.

pisateljev, ki pišejo v drugem jeziku, kot je angleščina.

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

Zdelo se mi je žalostno, da nanje ne bom nikoli naletela

I would probably never encounter them.

zaradi svojih bralnih navad.

So, I decided to prescribe myself

Zato sem se odločila, da si predpišem

an intensive course of global reading.

intenzivni tečaj globalnega branja.

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

2012 naj bi bilo zelo mednarodno leto za VB,

it was the year of the London Olympics.

bilo je leto londonskih olimpijskih iger.

And so I decided to use it as my time frame

Zato sem si to vzela za časovni okvir,

to try to read a novel, short story collection

v katerem bi poskusila prebrati roman, zbirko kratkih zgodb

or memoir from every country in the world.

ali biografijo iz vsake države na svetu.

And so I did.

In to sem storila.

And it was very exciting

Bilo je zelo razburljivo,

and I learned some remarkable things

naučila sem se nekaj neverjetnih reči

and made some wonderful connections

in navezala nekaj čudovitih stikov,

that I want to share with you today.

ki jih danes želim deliti vami.

But it started with some practical problems.

A začelo se je z nekaj praktičnimi težavami.

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

Ko sem ugotovila, katerega izmed mnogih različnih seznamov držav na svetu

to use for my project,

naj uporabim za moj projekt,

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

sem uporabila seznam, ki ga priznavajo Združeni narodi,

to which I added Taiwan,

ki sem mu dodala Tajvan

which gave me a total of 196 countries.

in na koncu sem dobila 196 držav.

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

Ko sem ugotovila, kako naj uskladim branje in bloganje

about, roughly, four books a week

o približno štirih knjigah na teden,

around working five days a week,

s petimi dnevi dela na teden,

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

sem se morala soočiti z dejstvom, da morda ne bom mogla dobiti

to get books in English from every country.

knjig v angleščini iz vsake države.

Only around 4.5 percent of the literary works published

Samo okrog 4,5 odstotka literarnih del,

each year in the UK are translations,

letno objavljenih v VB, so prevodi,

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

in številke so podobne za večino angleško govorečih držav.

Although, the proportion of translated books published

A delež prevedenih knjig, ki so objavljene

in many other countries is a lot higher.

v mnogih drugih državah, je veliko večji.

4.5 percent is tiny enough to start with,

4,5 odstotka je že tako zelo malo,

but what that figure doesn't tell you

a ta številka vam ne pove,

is that many of those books will come from countries

da veliko teh knjig prihaja iz držav

with strong publishing networks

z močnimi založniškimi mrežami,

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

z veliko strokovnjakov, pripravljenih, da te naslove prodajo

to English-language publishers.

angleškim založnikom.

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

Na primer, čeprav je več kot 100 knjig prevedenih iz francoščine

and published in the UK each year,

in izdanih v VB vsako leto,

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

jih večina prihaja iz držav, kot sta Francija in Švica.

French-speaking Africa, on the other hand,

V francosko govoreči del Afrike pa po drugi strani

will rarely ever get a look-in.

le redko dobimo vpogled.

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

Rezultat je, da je pravzaprav veliko narodov,

that may have little or even no commercially available literature

ki imajo zelo malo ali sploh nič komercialno dostopne literature

in English.

v angleščini.

Their books remain invisible to readers

Njihove knjige ostajajo nevidne za bralce

of the world's most published language.

najbolj branega jezika na svetu.

But when it came to reading the world,

A kar se tiče branja sveta

the biggest challenge of all for me

je bil zame največji izziv

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

dejstvo, da nisem vedela, kje začeti.

Having spent my life reading almost exclusively British

Ker sem celo življenje brala skoraj samo britanske

and North American books,

in severno-ameriške knjige,

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

nisem imela pojma, kako naj poiščem zgodbe

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

in jih izberem iz večine preostalega sveta.

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

Ne morem vam povedati, kako najti zgodbo iz Svazija.

I wouldn't know a good novel from Namibia.

Ne poznam dobrega romana iz Namibije.

There was no hiding it --

Ni se dalo skriti -

I was a clueless literary xenophobe.

bila sem literarni ksenofob, ki nima pojma.

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

Kako bom prebrala svet?

I was going to have to ask for help.

Prositi sem morala za pomoč.

So in October 2011, I registered my blog,

Tako sem oktobra 2011 registrirala svoj blog,

ayearofreadingtheworld.com,

ayearofreadingtheworld.com (leto branja sveta)

and I posted a short appeal online.

in na spletu objavila kratko prošnjo.

I explained who I was,

Pojasnila sem, kdo sem,

how narrow my reading had been,

kako ozko moje branje,

and I asked anyone who cared to

in prosila, da mi, kdor bi želel,

to leave a message suggesting what I might read

pusti sporočilo s predlogom, kaj naj berem

from other parts of the planet.

iz drugih koncev sveta.

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

Nisem imela pojma, ali bo to koga zanimalo,

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

a v nekaj urah po objavi poziva

people started to get in touch.

so me ljudje kontaktirali.

At first, it was friends and colleagues.

Najprej so bili prijatelji in kolegi.

Then it was friends of friends.

Nato prijatelji prijateljev.

And pretty soon, it was strangers.

In zelo kmalu, neznanci.

Four days after I put that appeal online,

Štiri dni po objavi poziva

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

sem dobila sporočilo od ženske iz Kuala Lumpurja, po imenu Rafidah.

She said she loved the sound of my project,

Povedala je, da ji je všeč zven mojega projekta,

could she go to her local English-language bookshop

predlagala, da bi šla v svojo knjigarno z angleškimi knjigami,

and choose my Malaysian book and post it to me?

izbrala mojo malezijsko knjigo in mi jo poslala.

I accepted enthusiastically,

Navdušeno sem sprejela

and a few weeks later,

in nekaj tednov kasneje

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

je prišel paket ne z eno, ampak dvema knjigama -

Rafidah's choice from Malaysia,

Rafidino izbiro iz Malezije

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

in knjigo iz Singapurja, ki jo je prav tako izbrala zame.

Now, at the time, I was amazed

Takrat sem bila navdušena,

that a stranger more than 6,000 miles away

da bi se tujka več kot 9000 km stran

would go to such lengths to help someone

tako potrudila za nekoga,

she would probably never meet.

ki ga najbrž ne bo nikoli srečala.

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

A Rafidina prijaznost je bila vzorec tistega leta.

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

Spet in spet so se ljudje trudili, da bi mi pomagali.

Some took on research on my behalf,

Nekateri so raziskovali namesto mene,

and others made detours on holidays and business trips

drugi so naredili ovinek na počitnicah in poslovnih poteh,

to go to bookshops for me.

da so šli v knjigarno zame.

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

Izkazalo se je, da če želiš prebrati svet,

if you want to encounter it with an open mind,

če bi ga rad srečal z odprtim umom,

the world will help you.

ti bo svet pomagal.

When it came to countries

V državah,

with little or no commercially available literature in English,

kjer je zelo malo ali nič literature dostopne v angleščini,

people went further still.

so šli ljudje še dlje.

Books often came from surprising sources.

Knjige so pogosto prišle iz presenetljivih virov.

My Panamanian read, for example, came through a conversation

Moje branje iz Paname, na primer, je prišlo skozi pogovor

I had with the Panama Canal on Twitter.

s panamskim prekopom na Twitterju.

Yes, the Panama Canal has a Twitter account.

Ja, panamski prekop ima Twitter profil.

And when I tweeted at it about my project,

In ko sem tvitala o svojem projektu,

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

mi je predlagal, naj poskusim dobiti knjigo

of the Panamanian author Juan David Morgan.

panamskega avtorja Juana Davida Morgana.

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

Našla sem Morganovo spletno stran in ga vprašala,

asking if any of his Spanish-language novels

če so katerega izmed njegovih romanov v španščini

had been translated into English.

prevedli v angleščino.

And he said that nothing had been published,

Rekel je, da ni bilo nič objavljeno,

but he did have an unpublished translation

a ima neobjavljen prevod

of his novel "The Golden Horse."

romana "Zlati konj".

He emailed this to me,

Poslal mi ga je

allowing me to become one of the first people ever

in mi s tem dovolil, da sem bila ena izmed prvih,

to read that book in English.

ki je prebrala to knjigo v angleščini.

Morgan was by no means the only wordsmith

Morgan še zdaleč ni edini mojster besed,

to share his work with me in this way.

ki je z mano delil svoje delo na ta način.

From Sweden to Palau,

Od Švedske do Palaua

writers and translators sent me self-published books

so mi pisatelji in prevajalci poslali knjige, izdane v samozaložbi,

and unpublished manuscripts of books

in neizdane rokopise knjig,

that hadn't been picked up by Anglophone publishers

ki jih niso opazili založniki iz angleško govorečega sveta

or that were no longer available,

ali pa niso bile več na voljo

giving me privileged glimpses of some remarkable imaginary worlds.

in mi s tem dali vpogled v nekatere neverjetne domišljijske svetove.

I read, for example,

Brala sem, na primer,

about the Southern African king Ngungunhane, who led the resistance

o južnoafriškem kralju Ngungunhaneju, ki je vodil upor

against the Portuguese in the 19th century;

proti Portugalcem v 19. stoletju

and about marriage rituals in a remote village

in o poročnih obredih v odmaknjeni vasi

on the shores of the Caspian sea in Turkmenistan.

na obalah Kaspijskega jezera v Turkmenistanu.

I met Kuwait's answer to Bridget Jones.

Spoznala sem kuvajtski odgovor na Bridget Jones.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

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

In brala sem o orgiji na drevesu v Angoli.

But perhaps the most amazing example

A morda je najbolj neverjeten primer truda,

of the lengths that people were prepared to go to

ki so ga ljudje vložili,

to help me read the world,

da bi mi pomagali prebrati svet,

came towards the end of my quest,

prišel pri koncu mojega potovanja,

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

ko sem poskušala dobiti knjigo iz majhne portugalsko govoreče

African island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe.

afriške otoške državice, Sao Tome in Principe.

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

Ko sem več mesecev poskušala vse, česar sem se lahko domislila, da bi našla

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

knjigo, ki je bila prevedena v angleščino iz te države,

it seemed as though the only option left to me

se mi je zdelo, da je edina možnost,

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

da ugotovim, ali bi mi nekdo nekaj prevedel sam.

Now, I was really dubious

Res sem dvomila,

whether anyone was going to want to help with this,

ali mi bo kdo pomagal s tem

and give up their time for something like that.

in svoj čas uporabil za kaj takega.

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

A v enem tednu, ko sem objavila poziv na Twitterju in Facebooku

for Portuguese speakers,

za portugalsko govoreče,

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

sem imela več ljudi, kot bi jih lahko vpletla v projekt,

including Margaret Jull Costa, a leader in her field,

vključno z Margaret Jull Costa, vodilno na svojem področju,

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

ki je prevedla dela Nobelovega nagrajenca Joséja Saramaga.

With my nine volunteers in place,

S svojimi devetimi prostovoljci

I managed to find a book by a São Toméan author

sem uspela najti avtorja iz Sao Tomeja,

that I could buy enough copies of online.

čigar knjigo sem lahko dobila v dovolj izvodih.

Here's one of them.

Tu je eden izmed njih.

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

Kopijo sem poslala vsakemu izmed svojih prostovoljcev.

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

Vsak se je zadolžil za nekaj kratkih zgodb iz te zbirke,

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

držal obljubo, mi poslal prevod

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

in v šestih tednih sem imela celotno knjigo.

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

V tem primeru, kot sem med svojim letom branja sveta velikokrat spoznala,

my not knowing and being open about my limitations

je moje neznanje in moja odkritost glede lastnih omejitev

had become a big opportunity.

postala velika priložnost.

When it came to São Tomé and Príncipe,

Pri Sao Tome in Príncipe

it was a chance not only to learn something new

je bila ne samo priložnost, da se naučim nekaj novega

and discover a new collection of stories,

in odkrijem novo zbirko zgodb,

but also to bring together a group of people

ampak tudi združitev skupine ljudi

and facilitate a joint creative endeavor.

in skupen ustvarjalni trud.

My weakness had become the project's strength.

Moja slabost je postala moč projekta.

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

Knjige, ki sem jih prebrala tisto leto, so mi odprle oči za mnogo stvari.

As those who enjoy reading will know,

Tisti, ki uživate v branju, veste,

books have an extraordinary power to take you out of yourself

da imajo knjige neverjetno moč, da vas odpeljejo

and into someone else's mindset,

v misli nekoga drugega,

so that, for a while at least,

tako da vsaj za nekaj časa

you look at the world through different eyes.

gledate na svet skozi druge oči.

That can be an uncomfortable experience,

To je lahko neprijetna izkušnja,

particularly if you're reading a book

še posebej če berete knjigo

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

iz kulture, ki ima precej drugačne vrednote od vaših.

But it can also be really enlightening.

A lahko je tudi razsvetljujoče.

Wrestling with unfamiliar ideas can help clarify your own thinking.

Bojevanje z neznanimi idejami vam lahko pomaga razjasniti vaše lastno mišljenje.

And it can also show up blind spots

Lahko vam pokaže slepe pege

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

v vašem pogledu na svet.

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

Ko sem pogledala nazaj na literaturo v angleškem jeziku,

I'd grown up with, for example,

s katero sem odrasla,

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

sem ugotovila, kako ozkogleda je bila

compared to the richness that the world has to offer.

v primerjavi z razkošjem, ki nam ga lahko ponudi svet.

And as the pages turned,

In ko so se strani obračale,

something else started to happen, too.

se je zgodilo še nekaj drugega.

Little by little,

Po malem

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

se je ta dolgi seznam držav, s katerim sem začela leto,

from a rather dry, academic register of place names

iz suhoparnega, akademskega registra imen

into living, breathing entities.

spremenil v bitja, polna življenja.

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

No, nočem namigovati, da je sploh mogoče

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

dobiti zaokroženo sliko države preprosto z branjem ene knjige.

But cumulatively, the stories I read that year

A skupaj so me zgodbe, ki sem jih prebrala to leto,

made me more alive than ever before

naredile bolj dovzetno kot kadarkoli prej

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

za bogastvo, raznolikost in kompleksnost našega neverjetnega planeta.

It was as though the world's stories

Bilo je, kot da bi zgodbe

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

in ljudje, ki so se tako potrudili, da sem jih lahko prebrala,

had made it real to me.

zame naredili svet resničen.

These days, when I look at my bookshelves

Te dni, ko pogledam svoje knjižne police

or consider the works on my e-reader,

ali zgodbe na svojem e-bralniku,

they tell a rather different story.

te povedo precej drugačno zgodbo.

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

Je zgodba o moči knjig, da nas povežejo

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

prek političnih, geografskih, kulturnih, socialnih, verskih razlik.

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

Je zgodba o potencialu, ki ga imamo ljudje za sodelovanje.

And, it's testament

In je pričanje

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

o neverjetnih časih, v katerih živimo, in kjer je, po zaslugi interneta,

it's easier than ever before

lažje kot kadarkoli prej,

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

da neznanka deli zgodbo, pogled na svet, knjigo

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

z nekom, ki ga morda ne bo nikoli srečala, na drugem koncu planeta.

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

Upam, da je to zgodba, ki jo bom brala še mnogo let.

And I hope many more people will join me.

In upam, da se mi bo pridružilo še veliko ljudi.

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

Če bi brali bolj na široko, bi bilo več vzpodbude

for publishers to translate more books,

za založnike, da prevedejo več knjig,

and we would all be richer for that.

in s tem bi vsi pridobili.

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)