Literature
Gašper Kralj
Škrbine
Stubs
»Roman 20. stoletja je roman časa, roman 21. stoletja je roman prostora.« S temi besedami je urednik pri založbi Gallimard Thomas Simonnet konec maja 2018 sklenil svoj nastop na 16. evropskem festivalu romanesknih prvencev v nemškem Kielu. Svojo misel je podkrepil s primeri iz kanonske literature 20. in 21. stoletja, poseben pomen prostora znotraj izvirnih narativnih postopkov pa je razbral tudi v romanih Géographie d’un adultère (2018) Agnès Riva in Rok trajanja (2016) Gašperja Kralja.
Zdi se, da Simonnetov lucidni uvid še toliko bolj velja za Kraljev zadnji roman Škrbine. Drsenje skozi prostore, notranje in zunanje, njih skrbno opazovanje in beleženje v skicah, zapiskih, kratkih opisih, alinejah, detajlih, krokijih, to neumorno iskanje orientacije in ravnotežja znotraj nezanesljivih miselnih tokov, ustvarjanje (p)osebne topografije skozi premik(anj)e, (iz)puščanje drobnih sledi, (iz)ris(ov)anje orientacijskih točk, vsaj navideznih oprijemališč … to so konstitutivni elementi oseb in (medosebnih) razmerij (tudi) v pričujočem romanu. Prostor je tisti, ki osebam v Škrbinah daje občutek vsaj navidezne varnosti in je obenem temeljno vezivo pripovedi. (Današnji) čas, ki tem osebam pripada, je namreč sila negotov in – dezorientiran. Ves zamujeni, odtekli, izgubljeni čas Kraljevih protagonistov pa se skozi eliptično večglasje, skozi izpuste in zamolke v kontrapunktirani zgostitvi (kakor v glasbeni fugi) naposled prizemlji in uprostori.
Gašper Kralj (1974, Ljubljana) je diplomiral iz ekonomije na Ekonomski fakulteti Univerze v Ljubljani, doktoriral pa iz socialne antropologije na ISH, Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis, prav tako v Ljubljani. Veliko se je ukvarjal z aktivizmom, tako v Sloveniji (npr. v okviru Avtonomne tovarne Rog in Mreže za stalni obisk v zvezi s postojnskim centrom za tujce) kot v Mehiki in Gvatemali, kjer je opravil tudi terensko raziskavo za doktorsko disertacijo, ki je pozneje izšla kot monografija Izginuli in vrnjeni: pričevanja o uporih v Gvatemali in Latinski Ameriki (Založba /cf., 2008). Zaposlen je bil kot docent za področje socialne antropologije in znanstveni sodelavec Fakultete za humanistične študije Univerze na Primorskem. Potem se je za nekaj let ustalil v Kataloniji, prevajal špansko pišoče avtorje (Javier Cercas, Eduardo Galeano, Ernesto Sábato, Carlos G. Villa), se ukvarjal z raziskovanjem sodobne književnosti in snovanjem romana Rok trajanja (Založba /cf., 2016), s katerim se je uvrstil med nominirance za najboljši literarni prvenec ter med finaliste za nagrado kresnik. Leta 2021 je roman izšel v madžarščini (Használati idő, prev. Emese Rajsli, Forum Újvidék) in 2023 v nemščini v zbirki Litteræ Slovenicæ (prev. Alexander Rath, Društvo slovenskih pisateljev). Za svoj drugi roman Škrbine (Založba /cf., 2020) je leta 2021 prejel Cankarjevo nagrado za najboljše izvirno literarno delo minulega leta, z njim se je uvrstil tudi v ožji izbor za mednarodno nagrado Evropske unije za književnost (EUPL) in znova med kresnikove finaliste; nemški prevod romana je izšel septembra 2023 (Splitter Eines Lebens, prev. Felix Mayer in Jernej Biščak, Mitteldeutscher Verlag). Bil je gost več mednarodnih literarnih srečanj in festivalov (npr. v Budimpešti, Kielu, Vilenici) ter član delegacije slovenskih pisateljev in pisateljic v fokusu frankfurtskega knjižnega sejma oktobra 2023. S soprevajalko Tino Malič je bil dvakrat nominiran za nagrado esAsi, in sicer za prevod romana Vojaki Salamine Javierja Cercasa (Založba /cf., 2013) ter dela Otroci dni Eduarda Galeana (Sanje, 2014).
“The 20th century novel is a novel of time, the 21st century novel is a novel of space.” With these words, Thomas Simonnet, editor at Gallimard, concluded his appearance at the 16th European Festival of the First Novel in Kiel, Germany, at the end of May 2018. He illustrated his point with examples from canonical literature of the 20th and 21st centuries, and he also saw the special significance of space within original narratives in Agnès Riva’s Géographie d’un adultère (2018) and Gašper Kralj’s Rok trajanja (Expiry Date, 2016).
Simonnet’s lucid insight seems to apply even more to Kralj’s last novel Stubs. Gliding through inner and outer spaces and observing them carefully, record¬ing them in sketches, notes, brief descriptions, bullet points, details, and croquis, this incessant search for orientation and balance within the unreliable streams of thoughts, creating a special personal topography through move(ment)s, leaving (out) minuscule traces, drawing points of orientation, at least virtual holds… these are the elements that constitute the characters and the (interpersonal) relationships in this novel (as well). Space is what gives the characters in Stubs the sense of ostensible security and is at the same time the connective tissue of the story. The (present) time which belongs to these people is extremely precarious and – disoriented. All the missed, gone, lost time of Kralj’s protagonists, however, through the elliptical polyphony, through ellipses and silences, is finally grounded and fills space through contrapuntal densification (like in a musical fugue).
Gašper Kralj (1974, Ljubljana) is a freelance award-winning writer and translator. He remembers that in his teens he decided to write a novel. He has been involved in activism, both in Slovenia (e.g., in connection with the Postojna Centre for Foreigners) and in Mexico and Guatemala, where he also conducted field research for his doctoral dissertation in social anthropology. The work was published as a monograph, The Disappeared and the Returned: Testimonials on the Uprisings in Guatemala and Latin America (Založba /cf., 2008) in the Slovene language. He lived in Catalonia for a few years, translating Spanish authors (Javier Cercas, Eduardo Galeano, Ernesto Sábato, Carlos G. Villa), researching literary fiction and writing the novel Rok trajanja (2016; Shelf Life), published by Založba /cf. in 2016, which was among the finalists for Best Fiction Debut and a finalist for the Kresnik Award for Best Novel; a Hungarian translation (by Emese Rajsli) came out in 2021, and a German translation (by Alexander Rath) in 2023. For his second novel, Stubs, he won the Cankar Prize for the best fiction book of the year, and was shortlisted for the European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL) and the Kresnik Award for the best Slovenian novel in 2021. Stubs was also published in German (translation by Felix Mayer and Jernej Biščak) in 2023. Kralj has been a guest at international literary meetings and festivals in Budapest, Kiel, Vilenica and Frankfurt. With his co-translator Tina Malič, he has been nominated twice for the esAsi Prize, for the translation of Javier Cercas’s Soldiers of Salamis (Založba /cf., 2013) and Eduardo Galeano’s Children of the Days* (Sanje, 2014).