What fear can teach us | Karen Thompson Walker

Translator: Morton Bast Reviewer: Thu-Huong Ha

Prevodilac: Maja Malinov Lektor: Tatjana Jevdjic

One day in 1819,

Jednog dana 1819. godine,

3,000 miles off the coast of Chile,

5 000 kilometara od obale Čilea,

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

u jednom od najudaljenijih regiona Pacifika,

20 American sailors watched their ship flood with seawater.

20 američikih mornara gledalo je kako njihov brod preplavljuje voda.

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

Naleteli su na ulješuru, koja je napravila

a catastrophic hole in the ship's hull.

strašan procep na trupu njihovog broda.

As their ship began to sink beneath the swells,

Kako je njihov brod počeo da tone ispod talasa,

the men huddled together in three small whaleboats.

ljudi su se zbili u tri mala čamca.

These men were 10,000 miles from home,

Ovi ljudi su bili 15 000 kilometara udaljeni od kuće

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

i više od 1 500 kilometara od najbližeg kopna.

In their small boats, they carried only

U svojim malim čamcima, imali su samo

rudimentary navigational equipment

zastarelu navigacionu opremu

and limited supplies of food and water.

i ograničene zalihe hrane i vode.

These were the men of the whaleship Essex,

Bila je to posada kitolovca Eseks,

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

čija priča će kasnije poslužiti kao insipiracija za delove ‚‚Mobi Dika".

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

Čak i u današnje vreme, njihova situacija bila bi vrlo kobna,

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

zamislite koliko je to tada bilo teže.

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

Niko na kopnu nije znao da je bilo šta krenulo po zlu.

No search party was coming to look for these men.

Nijedna spasilačka ekipa nije krenula u potragu za ovim ljudima.

So most of us have never experienced a situation

Mnogi od nas nikada nisu iskusili toliko strašnu nesreću

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

kao tu koja je snašla ove mornare,

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

ali svi znamo kako izgleda bojati se.

We know how fear feels,

Znamo kako je kada osećamo strah,

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

ali nisam sigurna da razmišljamo dovoljno vremena

what our fears mean.

o značenju naših strahova.

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

Kako odrastamo, često nas ohrabruju da strah doživljavamo

as a weakness, just another childish thing to discard

kao slabost, još jedna sitnica iz detinjstva koju treba odbaciti

like baby teeth or roller skates.

kao mlečne zube ili rolšue.

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

Mislim da nije slučajno što ovako razmišljamo.

Neuroscientists have actually shown that human beings

Neurolozi su zapravo dokazali da su ljudska bića

are hard-wired to be optimists.

urođeni optimisti.

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

Možda je to razlog što strah ponekad doživljavamo

as a danger in and of itself.

kao opasnost samu po sebi.

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

‚‚Ne brini", volimo da kažemo drugima. ‚‚Ne paniči."

In English, fear is something we conquer.

U engleskom jeziku, strah je nešto čime ovladavamo.

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

Ono protiv čega se borimo. Ono što prevazilazimo.

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

Šta ako pogledamo na strah na novi način?

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

Šta ako zamislimo strah kao jedan neverovatan oblik mašte,

something that can be as profound and insightful

nešto što može biti toliko duboko i pronicljivo

as storytelling itself?

kao i samo pripovedanje?

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

Ovu vezu između straha i mašte je najlakše videti

in young children, whose fears are often extraordinarily vivid.

kod male dece, čiji su strahovi često nesvakidašnje živopisni.

When I was a child, I lived in California,

Kad sam bila dete, živela sam u Kaliforniji,

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

što je, kao što znate, uglavnom vrlo prijatno mesto za život,

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

ali za mene, kao dete, Kalifornija je bila i pomalo strašna.

I remember how frightening it was to see the chandelier

Sećam se koliko je bilo strašno videti luster,

that hung above our dining table swing back and forth

koji visi iznad trpezarijskog stola, kako se ljulja napred nazad

during every minor earthquake,

za vreme svakog manjeg potresa,

and I sometimes couldn't sleep at night, terrified

ponekad nisam mogla da zaspim, uplašena

that the Big One might strike while we were sleeping.

da nas možda ‚‚Veliki" ne zadesi dok spavamo.

And what we say about kids who have fears like that

Za decu koja imaju takve strahove kažemo

is that they have a vivid imagination.

da imaju bujnu maštu.

But at a certain point, most of us learn

Ali u određenom trenutku, monogi od nas nauče

to leave these kinds of visions behind and grow up.

da ovakve maštarije ostave iza sebe i da odrastu.

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

Shvatimo da ne postoje čudovišta koja se kriju ispod kreveta

and not every earthquake brings buildings down.

i da ne može svaki zemljotres da sruši zgradu.

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

Možda nije slučajnost da neki naši najkreativniji umovi

fail to leave these kinds of fears behind as adults.

nisu uspeli da ostave ovakve strahove iza sebe kada su odrasli.

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

Ista ta neverovatna mašta koja je stvorila ‚‚O poreklu vrsta",

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

‚‚Džejn Ejr" i ‚‚Potragu za izgubljenim vremenom",

also generated intense worries that haunted the adult lives

proizvela je i snažne brige koje su progonile doba zrelosti

of Charles Darwin, Charlotte BrontĂŤ and Marcel Proust.

Čarlsa Darvina, Šarlote Bronte i Marsela Prusta.

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

Pitanje je, šta mi ostali možemo da naučimo o strahu

from visionaries and young children?

od vizionara i male dece?

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

Hajde da se na trenutak vratimo u 1819. godinu

to the situation facing the crew of the whaleship Essex.

i okolnosti sa kojima se suočila posada kitolovca Eseks.

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

Hajde da pogledamo strahove koje je njihova mašta

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

izrodila dok su plutali nasred Pacifika.

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

Prošlo je dvadeset četiri časa od prevrtanja njihovog broda.

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

Došlo je vreme da članovi posade naprave plan,

but they had very few options.

ali imali su vrlo malo mogućnosti.

In his fascinating account of the disaster,

U svom fascinantnom pomenu ove katastrofe,

Nathaniel Philbrick wrote that these men were just about

Natanijel Filbrik je napisao da su se ovi ljudi našli

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

na mestu najudaljenijem od kopna na čitavoj planeti Zemlji.

The men knew that the nearest islands they could reach

Znali su da su im najbliža ostrva

were the Marquesas Islands, 1,200 miles away.

bila ostrva Markiz, udaljena 2 000 kilometara.

But they'd heard some frightening rumors.

Ali su čuli neke zastrašujuće glasine.

They'd been told that these islands,

Rekli su im da su ova ostrva

and several others nearby, were populated by cannibals.

i nekoliko njih u blizini, naseljavali ljudožderi.

So the men pictured coming ashore only to be murdered

Ljudi su zamišljali kako dolaze na kopno samo da bi ih ubili

and eaten for dinner.

i pojeli za večeru.

Another possible destination was Hawaii,

Drugo moguće odredište su bili Havaji,

but given the season, the captain was afraid

ali zbog godišnjeg doba, kapetan se bojao

they'd be struck by severe storms.

da će ih sustići žestoke oluje.

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

Poslednja opcija je bila najduža i najteža:

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

plovidba 2 400 kilometara na jug sa nadom da će naići

a certain band of winds that could eventually

na neki niz vetrova koji bi ih najzad mogao

push them toward the coast of South America.

odgurnuti prema obali Južne Amerike.

But they knew that the sheer length of this journey

Ali su znali da zbog same dužine ovog putovanja

would stretch their supplies of food and water.

neće imati dovoljno zaliha hrane i vode.

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

Da li da ih pojedu ljudožderi, da ih izmuči oluja

to starve to death before reaching land.

ili da izgladne do smrti pre nego stignu do kopna?

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

Ovakvi strahovi su bujali u mašti ovih unesrećenih ljudi,

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

a na kraju, strah koji su izabrali da poslušaju

would govern whether they lived or died.

vodiće ih do života ili do smrti.

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

Ove strahove vrlo lako možemo nazvati i drugim imenom.

What if instead of calling them fears,

Šta bi bilo kada bismo rekli da to nisu strahovi

we called them stories?

već priče?

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

Jer strah je u stvari baš to, ako malo razmislite.

It's a kind of unintentional storytelling

To je nekakav nenameran način pripovedanja

that we are all born knowing how to do.

koji umemo da koristimo od rođenja.

And fears and storytelling have the same components.

Strahovi i pripovedanje su sastavljeni od istih delova.

They have the same architecture.

Imaju istu strukturu.

Like all stories, fears have characters.

Kao sve priče, strahovi imaju likove.

In our fears, the characters are us.

U našim strahovima, mi smo likovi.

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

Strahovi imaju i zaplet. Imaju početak, sredinu i kraj.

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

Ukrcate se u avion. Avion poleti. Motor se pokvari.

Our fears also tend to contain imagery that can be

Naši strahovi sadrže slike koje mogu biti

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

živopisne koliko i slike na stranicama u romanu.

Picture a cannibal, human teeth

Zamislite ljudoždera, ljudske zube

sinking into human skin,

kako zaranjaju u ljudsku kožu,

human flesh roasting over a fire.

ljudsko meso koje se peče na vatri.

Fears also have suspense.

Strahovi su puni napetosti.

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

Ako sam dobro obavila posao pripovedača danas,

you should be wondering what happened

trebalo bi da se pitate šta se dogodilo

to the men of the whaleship Essex.

ljudima sa kitolovca Eseks.

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

Naši strahovi izazivaju vrlo sličan oblik napetosti.

Just like all great stories, our fears focus our attention

Baš kao i sve sjajne priče, naši strahovi nam privlače pažnju

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

na pitanje koje je važno u životu kao i u književnosti:

What will happen next?

šta će se sledeće dogoditi?

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

Drugim rečima, naši strahovi nas navode da mislimo o budućnosti.

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

Ljudi su, uzgred, jedina bića sposobna

of thinking about the future in this way,

da razmišljaju o budućnosti na ovaj način,

of projecting ourselves forward in time,

da zamislimo sebe u budućnosti,

and this mental time travel is just one more thing

a to mentalno putovanje kroz vreme je samo još jedna stvar

that fears have in common with storytelling.

koja je zajednička strahovima i pripovedanju.

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

Kao pisac, mogu vam reći da je dobar deo pisanja fikcije

is learning to predict how one event in a story

učenje da predvidite kako će jedan događaj u priči

will affect all the other events,

da utiče na ostale događaje,

and fear works in that same way.

a strah deluje isto tako.

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

U strahu, kao i u fikciji, jedna stvar uvek vodi drugoj.

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

Dok sam pisala svoj roman, ‚‚Vreme čuda",

I spent months trying to figure out what would happen

provela sam mesece trudeći se da shvatim šta bi se dogodilo

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

ako bi brzina kojom se Zemlja okreće počela da opada.

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

Šta bi se desilo našim danima? Šta bi se desilo našim prinosima?

What would happen to our minds?

Šta bi se desilo našim umovima?

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

A tek kasnije sam shvatila koliko ova pitanja liče

these questions were to the ones I used to ask myself

na ona koja sam nekad postavljala sebi

as a child frightened in the night.

kao upašeno dete u noći.

If an earthquake strikes tonight, I used to worry,

Ako večeras bude zemljotres, pitala sam se,

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

šta će se desiti našoj kući? Šta će se desiti mojoj porodici?

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

A odgovori na ta pitanja su uvek uzimali oblik priče.

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

Ako doživimo naše strahove kao nešto više od strahova,

but as stories, we should think of ourselves

kao priče, videli bismo sebe

as the authors of those stories.

kao autore tih priča.

But just as importantly, we need to think of ourselves

Podjednako je važno da vidimo sebe

as the readers of our fears, and how we choose

i kao čitaoca svojih strahova, a kako odlučimo

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

da čitamo svoje strahove može imati snažan uticaj na naše živote.

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

Neki od nas po prirodi bolje čitaju svoje strahove od ostalih.

I read about a study recently of successful entrepreneurs,

Nedavno sam pročitala istraživanje o uspešnim preduzetnicima,

and the author found that these people shared a habit

pisac je zaključio da svi ovi ljudi imaju istu naviku

that he called "productive paranoia," which meant that

koju je nazvao ‚‚produktivna paranoja", što znači

these people, instead of dismissing their fears,

da ovi ljudi, umesto da odbace svoje strahove

these people read them closely, they studied them,

oni ih pažljivo čitaju, proučavaju ih

and then they translated that fear into preparation and action.

i onda te strahove pretvore u pripreme i dela.

So that way, if their worst fears came true,

Na taj način, ako bi im se ostvarili najgori strahovi,

their businesses were ready.

njihov posao bi bio spreman.

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

Ponekad se, naravno, naši najgori strahovi ostvaruju.

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

To je stvar koja je vrlo neobična u strahu.

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

Ponekad, naši strahovi mogu predvideti budućnost.

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

Ali ne možemo uvek da se pripremimo za sve strahove

that our imaginations concoct.

koje naša mašta može da smisli.

So how can we tell the difference between

Kako možemo razlikovati

the fears worth listening to and all the others?

strahove vredne slušanja od onih drugih?

I think the end of the story of the whaleship Essex

Mislim da nam kraj priče o kitolovcu Eseks

offers an illuminating, if tragic, example.

nudi poučan, mada tragičan, primer.

After much deliberation, the men finally made a decision.

Nakon puno razmatranja, muškarci su konačno odlučili.

Terrified of cannibals, they decided to forgo the closest islands

U strahu od ljudoždera, odlučili su da odustanu od najbližih ostrva

and instead embarked on the longer

i umesto toga krenu na duži

and much more difficult route to South America.

i mnogo teži put do Južne Amerike.

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

Posle više od dva meseca na pučini, ponestalo im je hrane

as they knew they might,

kao što su i očekivali,

and they were still quite far from land.

a još uvek su bili prilično daleko od kopna.

When the last of the survivors were finally picked up

Kada su poslednje preživele konačno spasila

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

dva broda u prolazu, manje od polovine ljudi je bilo živo,

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

a neki od njih su pribegli sopstvenom obliku kanibalizma.

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

Herman Melvil, koji je istraživao ovu priču za roman ‚‚Mobi Dik",

wrote years later, and from dry land, quote,

je godinama kasnije, na čvrstom tlu napisao:

"All the sufferings of these miserable men of the Essex

‚‚Sve patnje ovih unesrećenih ljudi sa Eseksa

might in all human probability have been avoided

mogle su se izbeći

had they, immediately after leaving the wreck,

da su oni, napustivši olupinu

steered straight for Tahiti.

krenuli pravo ka Tahitiju.

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

Ali", kako Melvil kaže, ‚‚bojali su se ljudoždera."

So the question is, why did these men dread cannibals

Pitanje je, zašto su se ovi ljudi bojali ljudoždera

so much more than the extreme likelihood of starvation?

više nego gotovo sigurne smrti od gladi?

Why were they swayed by one story

Zašto je jedna priča

so much more than the other?

imala jači uticaj od druge?

Looked at from this angle,

Sa druge strane gledano,

theirs becomes a story about reading.

njihova priča postaje priča o čitanju.

The novelist Vladimir Nabokov said that the best reader

Književnik Vladimir Nabokov kaže da najbolji čitalac

has a combination of two very different temperaments,

ima kombinaciju dva različita temperamenta,

the artistic and the scientific.

umetnički i naučni.

A good reader has an artist's passion,

Dobar čitalac ima strast jednog umetnika,

a willingness to get caught up in the story,

spremnost da se unese u priču,

but just as importantly, the readers also needs

ali isto tako važno, čitaoci bi trebalo da imaju

the coolness of judgment of a scientist,

bistrinu rasuđivanja jednog naučnika,

which acts to temper and complicate

koja ublažava i komplikuje

the reader's intuitive reactions to the story.

intuitivnu reakciju čitaoca na priču.

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

Videli smo da ljudi sa Eseksa nisu imali problema sa umetničkom stranom.

They dreamed up a variety of horrifying scenarios.

Zamislili su mnoštvo jezivih scenarija.

The problem was that they listened to the wrong story.

Problem je što su poslušali pogrešnu priču.

Of all the narratives their fears wrote,

Od svih priča koje su napisali njihovi strahovi,

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

odgovorili su samo na najmračnije, najživopisnije

the one that was easiest for their imaginations to picture:

na one koje je njihova mašta najlakše predstavila:

cannibals.

na ljudoždere.

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

Da su možda mogli da čitaju svoje strahove

more like a scientist, with more coolness of judgment,

kao naučnici, sa bistrim umom

they would have listened instead to the less violent

poslušali bi manje nasilnu

but the more likely tale, the story of starvation,

ali realniju priču, priču o izgladnjivanju

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

i krenuli ka Tahiiju, kako Melvil žalosno objašnjava.

And maybe if we all tried to read our fears,

Možda, ako bismo svi pokušali da čitamo svoje strahove,

we too would be less often swayed

ređe bi nas pokolebali

by the most salacious among them.

najstrašniji od njih.

Maybe then we'd spend less time worrying about

Možda bismo onda provodili manje vremena u strahu

serial killers and plane crashes,

od serijskih ubica i avionskih nesreća,

and more time concerned with the subtler

a više brinuli o suptilnijim

and slower disasters we face:

i sporijim katastrofama koje susrećemo:

the silent buildup of plaque in our arteries,

nečujnom nagomilavanju naslaga u arterijama,

the gradual changes in our climate.

sporim promenama naše klime.

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

Baš kao što su u književnosti priče sa najviše nijansi najbogatije

so too might our subtlest fears be the truest.

tako i naši najsuptilniji strahovi postaju najverniji.

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

Ako ih pročitamo na pravi način, strahovi su neverovatan poklon

of the imagination, a kind of everyday clairvoyance,

mašte, vrsta svakodnevne vidovitosti,

a way of glimpsing what might be the future

način da se osvrnemo na ono što donosi budućnost

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

dok još ima dovoljno vremena da utičemo na događaje u budućnosti.

Properly read, our fears can offer us something as precious

Ako ih ispravno čitamo, strahovi mogu da ponude nešto dragoceno

as our favorite works of literature:

kao naša omiljena književna dela:

a little wisdom, a bit of insight

malo mudrosti, nekakav uvid

and a version of that most elusive thing --

i verziju te neuhvatljive stvari -

the truth.

istine.

Thank you. (Applause)

Hvala. (Aplauz)