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

Prevodilac: Ivana Krivokuća Lektor: Tijana Mihajlović

Često kažu da možete mnogo toga zaključiti o osobi

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

by looking at what's on their bookshelves.

ako pogledate šta se nalazi na njenim policama za knjige.

What do my bookshelves say about me?

Šta moje police govore o meni?

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

Pa, kada sam sebi postavila to pitanje pre nekoliko godina,

I made an alarming discovery.

došla sam do alarmantnog otkrića.

Oduvek sam sebe smatrala prilično kulturnim,

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

cosmopolitan sort of person.

kosmopolitskim tipom osobe.

But my bookshelves told a rather different story.

Međutim, moje police za knjige su odavale sasvim drugačiju priču.

Pretty much all the titles on them

Manje-više svi naslovi na njima

were by British or North American authors,

pripadali su britanskim ili severnoamerikim autorima,

and there was almost nothing in translation.

i gotovo da ništa nije bilo prevedeno.

Discovering this massive, cultural blind spot in my reading

Otkriće ove ogromne, kulturne slepe mrlje u mom štivu

came as quite a shock.

nastupilo je kao priličan šok.

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

I kada sam razmislila o tome, činilo mi se kao prava sramota.

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

Znala sam da mora da ima mnogo sjajnih priča u svetu

by writers working in languages other than English.

koje su napisali pisci na drugim jezicima pored engleskog

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

i delovalo je kao veoma tužna pomisao da moje čitalačke navike podrazumevaju

I would probably never encounter them.

da verovatno nikada neću naići na njih.

So, I decided to prescribe myself

Stoga sam rešila da sebi zadam

an intensive course of global reading.

intenzivan kurs globalnog čitanja.

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

Godina 2012. se tako namestila da bude veoma međunarodna za Veliku Britaniju;

it was the year of the London Olympics.

bila je to godina Olimpijade u Londonu.

And so I decided to use it as my time frame

Stoga sam rešila da je iskoristim kao svoj vremenski okvir

to try to read a novel, short story collection

da bih pokušala da pročitam roman, zbirku kratkih priča

or memoir from every country in the world.

ili memoare iz svake zemlje na svetu.

And so I did.

Tako sam to i učinila.

And it was very exciting

Bilo je veoma uzbudljivo,

and I learned some remarkable things

naučila sam neke izuzetne stvari

and made some wonderful connections

i stvorila neke divne veze

that I want to share with you today.

koje danas želim da podelim sa vama.

Međutim, to je otpočelo nekim praktičnim problemima.

But it started with some practical problems.

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

Nakon što sam razmotrila

koju od mnogo različitih lista zemalja sveta

to use for my project,

da upotrebim u svom projektu,

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

na kraju sam se odlučila za listu nacija koje prepoznaje UN,

to which I added Taiwan,

kojima sam dodala Tajvan,

which gave me a total of 196 countries.

pri čemu sam na kraju imala 196 zemalja.

Nakon što sam ustanovila kako da uklopim čitanje i pisanje na blogu

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

about, roughly, four books a week

o otprilike četiri knjige nedeljno

around working five days a week,

u toku pet radnih dana u nedelji,

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

potom sam morala da se suočim sa činjenicom da možda neću moći

to get books in English from every country.

ni da nabavim knjige na engleskom iz svake zemlje.

Only around 4.5 percent of the literary works published

Samo oko 4,5 odsto književnih dela

objavljenih svake godine u Velikoj Britaniji su prevodi,

each year in the UK are translations,

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

a te cifre su slične u većini zemalja engleskog govornog područja,

Although, the proportion of translated books published

premda je udeo prevedenih knjiga koje su objavljene

in many other countries is a lot higher.

u mnogim drugim zemljama znatno veći.

4.5 percent is tiny enough to start with,

Četiri i po odsto je vrlo malo za početak,

but what that figure doesn't tell you

ali vam ta cifra ne govori

is that many of those books will come from countries

da mnoge od tih knjiga dolaze iz zemalja

with strong publishing networks

sa jakim izdavačkim mrežama

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

i mnogo profesionalaca u toj industriji

usmerenih ka tome da idu naokolo i prodaju te naslove

to English-language publishers.

izdavačima za engleski jezik.

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

Tako, na primer, iako je znatno više od 100 knjiga

prevedeno sa francuskog i svake godine objavljeno u Velikoj Britaniji,

and published in the UK each year,

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

većina njih će doći iz zemalja kao što su Francuska ili Švajcarska.

French-speaking Africa, on the other hand,

Afrika francuskog govornog područja, sa druge strane,

will rarely ever get a look-in.

retko će se tu čak i pomoliti.

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

Zaključak je da zapravo postoji prilično mnogo naroda

that may have little or even no commercially available literature

koji možda imaju malo ili čak nimalo komercijalno dostupne literature

in English.

na engleskom jeziku.

Njihove knjige ostaju nevidljive za čitaoce

Their books remain invisible to readers

of the world's most published language.

jezika na kome se u svetu najviše objavljuje.

But when it came to reading the world,

Međutim, kada je trebalo čitati svetsku književnost,

the biggest challenge of all for me

najveći izazov za mene

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

bila je činjenica da nisam znala odakle da počnem.

Having spent my life reading almost exclusively British

S obzirom na to da sam provela život čitajući gotovo isključivo britanske

and North American books,

i severnoameričke knjige,

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

nisam imala pojma kako da sprovedem pribavljanje i iznalaženje priča

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

i njihov odabir iz većine ostatka sveta.

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

Ne mogu da vam kažem kako da nabavite priču iz Svazilenda.

Ne bih znala koji je dobar roman iz Namibije.

I wouldn't know a good novel from Namibia.

There was no hiding it --

Nema šta da se krije -

I was a clueless literary xenophobe.

bila sam književni ksenofob bez ikakvog pojma.

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

Pa, kako ću ikako moći da čitam svetsku književnost?

I was going to have to ask for help.

Morala sam da zatražim pomoć.

So in October 2011, I registered my blog,

Tako sam u oktobru 2011. godine registrovala svoj blog,

ayearofreadingtheworld.com,

ayearofreadingtheworld.com,

and I posted a short appeal online.

i objavila sam kratku onlajn molbu.

I explained who I was,

Objasnila sam ko sam,

how narrow my reading had been,

kako je moje čitanje bilo ograničeno,

and I asked anyone who cared to

i zamolila sam da bilo ko kome je stalo,

to leave a message suggesting what I might read

ostavi poruku predlažući šta bih mogla da čitam

from other parts of the planet.

iz drugih krajeva planete.

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

Nisam imala pojma da li će se iko zainteresovati,

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

ali nekoliko sati nakon mog postavljanja te molbe na internetu,

people started to get in touch.

ljudi su počeli da se javljaju.

At first, it was friends and colleagues.

U početku, to su bili prijatelji i kolege.

Then it was friends of friends.

Mnogi su bili prijatelji prijatelja

And pretty soon, it was strangers.

i uskoro nepoznati ljudi.

Four days after I put that appeal online,

Četiri dana nakon što sam postavila tu molbu na internet,

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

dobila sam poruku od žene po imenu Rafida iz Kuala Lumpura.

She said she loved the sound of my project,

Rekla je da joj se sviđa kako zvuči moj projekat.

could she go to her local English-language bookshop

Da li bi mogla da ode u lokalnu knjižaru za engleski jezik

and choose my Malaysian book and post it to me?

da odabere malezijsku knjigu za mene i pošalje mi je?

I accepted enthusiastically,

Prihvatila sam sa entuzijazmom,

and a few weeks later,

a nekoliko nedelja kasnije,

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

stigao je paket koji je sadržao ne jednu, već dve knjige -

Rafidah's choice from Malaysia,

jedna po Rafidinom izboru iz Malezije,

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

i knjiga iz Singapura koju je takođe odabrala za mene.

Now, at the time, I was amazed

U tom trenutku sam bila zadivljena

that a stranger more than 6,000 miles away

time da bi nepoznata osoba udaljena više od 9 500 kilometara

would go to such lengths to help someone

otišla toliko daleko da pomogne nekome

she would probably never meet.

koga verovatno nikada neće sresti.

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

Međutim, Rafidina ljubaznost pokazala se kao obrazac te godine.

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

Iznova i iznova, ljudi su činili sve u svojoj moći da mi pomognu.

Some took on research on my behalf,

Neki su istraživali umesto mene,

and others made detours on holidays and business trips

a drugi su skretali sa puta na odmorima i poslovnim putovanjima

to go to bookshops for me.

da bi išli u knjižare radi mene.

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

Ispostavilo se da, ako hoćete da čitate svetsku književnost,

if you want to encounter it with an open mind,

ako želite da se susretnete sa njom otvorenog uma,

the world will help you.

svet će vam pomoći.

When it came to countries

Kada se radilo o zemljama

with little or no commercially available literature in English,

sa malo ili nimalo literature komercijalno dostupne na engleskom,

people went further still.

ljudi su išli još dalje.

Books often came from surprising sources.

Knjige su često pristizale iz iznenađujućih izvora.

My Panamanian read, for example, came through a conversation

Moje panamsko štivo, na primer, došlo je kroz razgovor

I had with the Panama Canal on Twitter.

koji sam vodila na Tviteru sa Panamskim kanalom.

Yes, the Panama Canal has a Twitter account.

Da, Panamski kanal ima nalog na Tviteru.

And when I tweeted at it about my project,

Kada sam tvitovala o svom projektu,

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

predložio je da bih mogla da pokušam da se domognem dela

of the Panamanian author Juan David Morgan.

panamskog autora Huana Davida Morgana.

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

Pronašla sam Morganov vebsajt i poslala mu poruku,

asking if any of his Spanish-language novels

pitavši ga da li je neki njegov roman na španskom jeziku

had been translated into English.

preveden na engleski.

And he said that nothing had been published,

Rekao je da ništa nije objavljeno,

but he did have an unpublished translation

ali da ima neobjavljen prevod

of his novel "The Golden Horse."

svog romana „Zlatni konj“.

He emailed this to me,

Poslao mi je to imejlom,

allowing me to become one of the first people ever

omogućivši mi da postanem jedna od prvih ljudi

to read that book in English.

koji su ikada pročitali tu knjigu na engleskom.

Morgan was by no means the only wordsmith

Morgan ni u kom slučaju nije bio jedini majstor za reči

to share his work with me in this way.

koji je podelio sa mnom svoje delo na ovakav način.

From Sweden to Palau,

Od Švedske do Palaua,

writers and translators sent me self-published books

pisci i prevodioci slali su mi samostalno objavljene knjige

and unpublished manuscripts of books

i neobjavljene rukopise knjiga

that hadn't been picked up by Anglophone publishers

koje nisu nabavili anglofonski izdavači

or that were no longer available,

ili koje više nisu bile dostupne,

giving me privileged glimpses of some remarkable imaginary worlds.

dajući mi privilegiju da bacim pogled u neke izuzetne imaginarne svetove.

Čitala sam, na primer,

I read, for example,

about the Southern African king Ngungunhane, who led the resistance

o južnoafričkom kralju Gungunhani, koji je predvodio pokret otpora

against the Portuguese in the 19th century;

protiv Portugalaca u 19. veku,

and about marriage rituals in a remote village

o bračnim ritualima u zabačenom selu

on the shores of the Caspian sea in Turkmenistan.

na obalama Kaspijskog mora u Turkmenistanu.

I met Kuwait's answer to Bridget Jones.

Susrela sam se sa kuvajtskim odgovorom na Bridžet Džouns.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

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

Čitala sam o orgiji na drvetu u Angoli.

But perhaps the most amazing example

Ipak, možda najneverovatniji primer

of the lengths that people were prepared to go to

toga dokle su ljudi bili spremni da odu

to help me read the world,

da bi mi pomogli da pročitam svetska dela,

came towards the end of my quest,

desio se pred kraj mog traganja,

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

kada sam pokušala da se domognem knjige sa malene afričke ostrvske zemlje

African island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe.

u kojoj se govori portugalski, Sao Tome i Principe.

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

Nakon što sam provela nekoliko meseci pokušavajući sve čega sam se setila

da nađem knjigu koja je prevedena na engleski iz te zemlje,

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

it seemed as though the only option left to me

činilo se kao da je jedina opcija koja mi je preostala

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

da vidim da li mogu da nađem nekog da mi je prevede ispočetka.

Now, I was really dubious

Zaista sam sumnjala

whether anyone was going to want to help with this,

da će iko želeti da mi pomogne oko toga

and give up their time for something like that.

i da odvoji svoje vreme zbog takvog nečeg.

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

Međutim, nedelju dana od postavljanja mog poziva na Tviteru i Fejsbuku

for Portuguese speakers,

za osobe koje govore portugalski,

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

imala sam više ljudi nego što sam mogla da ih uključim u projekat,

including Margaret Jull Costa, a leader in her field,

uključujući Margaret Džul Kostu, vodećeg stručnjaka u svom polju,

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

koja je prevela delo

dobitnika Nobelove nagrade, Žozea Saramaga.

With my nine volunteers in place,

Sa svojih devet okupljenih volontera,

I managed to find a book by a São Toméan author

uspela sam da pronađem knjigu autora sa Sao Tome

čijih sam dovoljno primeraka mogla da kupim preko interneta.

that I could buy enough copies of online.

Here's one of them.

Evo jednog od njih.

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

Poslala sam primerak svakom od svojih volontera.

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

Svi su uzeli par kratkih priča iz ove zbirke,

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

održali svoju reč, poslali mi svoje prevode,

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

i za šest nedelja imala sam celu knjigu za čitanje.

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

U tom slučaju, kao što sam često uvidela tokom svoje godine čitanja svetskih dela,

my not knowing and being open about my limitations

moje nepoznavanje i otvorenost u pogledu mojih ograničenja

had become a big opportunity.

postalo je velika prilika.

When it came to São Tomé and Príncipe,

Što se tiče Sao Tome i Principe,

it was a chance not only to learn something new

to je bila prilika ne samo za učenje nečeg novog

and discover a new collection of stories,

i otkrivanje novih zbirki priča,

but also to bring together a group of people

već i za okupljanje grupe ljudi

and facilitate a joint creative endeavor.

i za unapređivanje zajedničkog kreativnog poduhvata.

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 otvorile su mi oči za mnoge stvari.

As those who enjoy reading will know,

Kao što znaju oni koji uživaju u čitanju,

books have an extraordinary power to take you out of yourself

knjige imaju izvanrednu moć da vas odvedu iz sebe samih

and into someone else's mindset,

u um nekog drugog,

so that, for a while at least,

tako da, bar neko vreme,

you look at the world through different eyes.

posmatrate svet drugim očima.

That can be an uncomfortable experience,

To može biti neprijatno iskustvo,

particularly if you're reading a book

naročito ako čitate knjigu

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

iz kulture koja možda ima dosta drukčije vrednosti u odnosu na vaše.

But it can also be really enlightening.

Ipak, to može biti i zaista prosvetljujuće.

Wrestling with unfamiliar ideas can help clarify your own thinking.

Borba sa nepoznatim idejama vam može pomoći da razjasnite svoje razmišljanje.

And it can also show up blind spots

Takođe vam može pokazati slepe mrlje

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

u načinu na koji ste posmatrali svet.

Kada sam se osvrnula na to uz koliko literature na engleskom jeziku

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

I'd grown up with, for example,

sam odrasla, na primer,

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

počela sam da uviđam koliko je njen dobar deo bio ograničen,

compared to the richness that the world has to offer.

u odnosu na bogatstvo koje svet ima u ponudi.

And as the pages turned,

Dok su se stranice okretale,

something else started to happen, too.

još nešto je počelo da se dešava.

Little by little,

Malo po malo,

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

ta duga lista zemalja sa kojom sam započela godinu

from a rather dry, academic register of place names

preinačila se od suvoparnog, akademskog spiska imena mesta

into living, breathing entities.

u entitete koji žive i dišu.

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

Ne bih da sugerišem da je uopšte moguće

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

dobiti zaokruženu sliku zemlje prosto čitanjem jedne knjige.

Ipak, kada se sve sabere, priče koje sam pročitala te godine

But cumulatively, the stories I read that year

made me more alive than ever before

učinile su me osetljivijom više nego ikada pre

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

na bogatstvo, raznolikost i složenost naše izuzetne planete.

It was as though the world's stories

Kao da su je priče sveta

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

i ljudi koji su tako daleko otišli da bi mi pomogli da ih pročitam

had made it real to me.

učinile stvarnom za mene.

Ovih dana, kada pogledam svoje police

These days, when I look at my bookshelves

or consider the works on my e-reader,

ili razmotrim dela na svom čitaču elektronskih knjiga,

they tell a rather different story.

oni pričaju sasvim drugu priču.

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

To je priča o moći koje knjige imaju da nas povežu

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

preko političkih, geografskih, kulturnih, društvenih, verskih podela.

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

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

And, it's testament

Takođe, to je svedočanstvo

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

izuzetnog vremena u kome živimo, u kome, zahvaljujući internetu,

it's easier than ever before

lakše je nego ikada pre

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

da nepoznata osoba podeli priču, pogled na svet, knjigu

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

sa nekim koga možda nikada neće sresti, na drugoj strani planete.

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

Nadam se da je to priča koju ću čitati mnogo narednih godina

And I hope many more people will join me.

i nadam se da će mi se pridružiti još mnogo ljudi.

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

Ako bismo svi čitali šire, bilo bi više podsticaja

for publishers to translate more books,

za izdavače da prevedu više knjiga,

and we would all be richer for that.

a time bismo svi bili bogatiji.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)