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) je pisatelj in prevajalec, rojen v Ljubljani. Dejaven je bil v aktivističnih gibanjih, tako v Sloveniji kot v Mehiki in Gvatemali, kjer je opravil tudi raziskavo za doktorsko disertacijo iz socialne antropologije. Delo je izšlo kot monografija Izginuli in vrnjeni (Založba /cf., 2008). Za nekaj let se je ustalil v Kataloniji – kjer občasno še vedno živi –, tam 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 in med finaliste za kresnika. Knjiga je izšla v madžarščini (Használati idő, prev. Emese Rajsli, Forum, 2021) in nemščini (Ablaufdatum, prev. Alexander Rath, Društvo slovenskih pisateljev, 2023). Za svoj drugi roman Škrbine (Založba /cf., 2020) je leta 2021 prejel Cankarjevo nagrado za najboljše izvirno literarno delo, z njim pa se je uvrstil tudi v ožji izbor za nagrado Evropske unije za književnost (EUPL) in ponovno med kresnikove finaliste. Škrbine so izšle v nemškem prevodu (Splitter eines Lebens, prev. Felix Mayer in Jernej Biščak, Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 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) is a writer and translator, born in Ljubljana. He has been involved in activist movements in Slovenia as well as in Mexico and Guatemala, where he also conducted research for his doctoral dissertation in social anthropology. The work was published as a monograph Izginuli in vrnjeni [The Disappeared and the Returned] (Založba /cf., 2008). He settled in Catalonia for several years—where he still occasionally lives—and translated Spanish-language authors (Javier Cercas, Eduardo Galeano, Ernesto Sábato, Carlos G. Villa), explored contemporary literature and worked on his first novel Rok trajanja [Expiry Date] (Založba /cf., 2016), for which he was nominated for the best literary debut and was among the finalists for the Kresnik Award for the best novel. The book was published in Hungarian (Használati idő, transl. Emese Rajsli, Forum, 2021) and in German (Ablaufdatum, transl. Alexander Rath, Društvo slovenskih pisateljev, 2023). For his second novel, Škrbine [Stubs] (Založba /cf., 2020), Kralj received the 2021 Cankar Award for the best original literary work published in Slovenian language. The novel was also shortlisted for the European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL) and was a finalist for the Kresnik Award. Škrbine was also published in German (Splitter eines Lebens, transl. Felix Mayer and Jernej Biščak, Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 2023). With co-translator Tina Malič, he has been nominated twice for the esAsi Award, for their translations of Javier Cercas’s Soldiers of Salamis (Vojaki Salamine, Založba /cf., 2013) and Eduardo Galeano’s Children of the Days (Otroci dni, Sanje, 2014).