Slepec

by Mitja Čander

Vsak od nas bije svojo bitko, vsak je soočen z nečim, kar se mora naučiti premagati ali vsaj obvladovati. Tak je tudi protagonist romana Slepec, sicer uspešen urednik in literat, ki je že od otroštva slaboviden, a se nikoli zares ni vključil v skupnost slepih in slabovidnih, saj se ne počuti, da tja zares spada. Čander v tem avtobiografsko obarvanem romanu skozi različne protagonistove komentarje, razmisleke in predsodke prikazuje, kako zahtevno je vprašanje pripadnosti. Pokaže na paradoksalnost takega položaja in podreza v celoten spekter potlačenih čustev nekoga, ki se je celo življenje počutil nevrednega, pa tudi nekako drugačnega. Protagonist se sooča z agonijo, zadrego, strahom, pa tudi ihto in jezo; v vsakodnevnem življenju se na razne izzive odziva zelo različno, pri čemer ga nove stvari, kot so potovanja z letali, begajo, pritoževanje žene, da doma ne pomaga dovolj, pa razburja. Roman skozi posamezne epizode prikaže, kako se slabovidni spopadajo z ovirami in preprekami, na kakšen način so pogosto izključeni iz videče družbe in kako hitro se lahko človek iz ranljive skupine počuti brezupno odrinjenega na rob. Ko se protagonist prvič v življenju znajde na sedežu zveze slepih in slabovidnih, mu godi vsesplošno laskanje, kmalu pa mu prebudijo skomine tudi ugodnosti, ki mu pripadajo kot invalidu. Počasi se mu začnejo odpirati tudi nove priložnosti v politiki. Tako se iz poprej še kar umirjenega moža z nosečo ženo in stabilnega družinskega človeka zlagoma prelevi v nekoga bolj vase zaverovanega. Čander s tem izriše kritičen in neizprosen, pa tudi rahlo satiričen prikaz družbenega sistema, v katerem si lahko ljudje na položajih dovolijo več od drugih. Preko govorov, ki so vedno polni floskul in visokoletečih obljub, ruši fasado, skozi protagonistovo negotovost pa kaže tudi na to, da ni vedno vse, kot se zdi. Tako fizična slepota počasi prehaja v psihološko oziroma v zaslepljenost z lastnim jazom. Lik je namreč iz poglavja v poglavje bolj kompleksen, posebna odlika romana pa so tudi žmohtni, živahni dialogi, ki se odigravajo v napetosti, ki do presunljivega konca ne popušča.

209 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2019

Reviews

[Paul Fulcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blind Man has been translated by Rawley Grau from the Slovene original Slepec (2019) by Mitja Čander and is the latest book from one of the UK’s highest quality publishers, Istros Books:

Istros is the old Greek and Thracian name for the lower Danube River, which winds its way down from its source in Germany and flows into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and goes on to cross many of the countries of South-East Europe: Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. Its watershed also extends to other neighbouring countries, with one of the main Danubian tributaries, the Sava, serving Slovenia and Bosnia/Herzegovina, while also feeding the waterways and lakes of Macedonia and Montenegro and Albania. These are the countries of focus for Istros Books, evoking the image of the Danube river flowing carelessly across the borders of Europe and encapsulating the ideal of the free-flow of knowledge and the cultural exchange that books promote.

This is the fourth translation from Grau I’ve read, after Panorama and Billiards at the Hotel Dobray by Dusan Sarotar and The Harvest of Chronos by Mojca Kumerdej, and these previous three, also all published by Istros, were all excellent.

Here Grau provides a very helpful foreword with some Slovenian political, literary and cultural context to the novel, one designed to avoid the use of distracting footnotes.

This was the debut novel by Mitja Čander who is a key figure in Slovene literature, including as co-founder and director of Beletrina Academic Press who published the three aforementioned novels, and in Slovenian translation have published world-wide authors such as Roberto Bolaño, W. G. Sebald, Herta Müller, Mia Couto, Georgi Gospodinov, Patrick Modiano, Imre Kertész, Bernardo Atxaga, Michel Houellebecq, Enrique Vila-Matas, Jose Saramago and the incomparable Thomas Bernhard.

The first person narrator of Blind Man is himself a book editor and literary critic (*), who has suffered with visual impairment all his life, due to an optic nerve damaged at birth, and unable to see at all well other than objects very close to his eye.

(* by an odd coincidence the previous novel I read also featured a literary critic, and both were reading the latest Houllebecq novel - or perhaps not such a coincidence as authors do tend to like characters from literary backgrounds).

Historically he has underplayed the issue and has had nothing to do with the Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired, but is persuaded to make a speech to their Intellectuals Section, and then, when a general election sweeps a new party into power in Slovenia, finds himself stumbling into politics.

The story that follows is somewhat satirical, as the new regime, elected on an anti-corruption ticket, soon get involved in accusations of graft, while our narrator makes increasingly abstract and buzzword-riddled speeches to justify it all. On a visit to his hometown, he speaks to a former colleague who laments that he is no longer plugged in to the literary scene in the capital:

The literary scene, my friend, is in fact dreadfully dull. If you had stayed, you'd be rotting away, believe me. Retreat is sometimes a victory. You don't believe me? Why do you think I went and buried my head in all that government crap, and now all this futurist crap? For a long time I couldn't understand why I said yes to the prime minister, despite my determination to refuse. But I do now. The deciding factor was that I was fed up with manuscripts, galleys, literary evenings, reviews, awards, canonizations and panegyrics. It was my disgust with petitions, open letters, semi-open letters, articles, news reports, columns, round tables, forums. I ran away too, old friend! Cheers!

Overall, a fascinating, if tongue-in-cheek, glance into a political system, with lessons both local and universal, and a fun read.

4 stars

[Areeb Ahmad (Bankrupt_Bookworm) · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Well, today we're mostly just sitting in a daze in our own corners, each in our own pain, facing our personal limits. I'm not complaining, mind you, but that's how it is. We made pacts among ourselves and locked horns, squeezed out confessions and planted mines - we did all kinds of things, and now nothing is left, not even contempt, just every so often a sense of allegiance."

Translated from the Slovene by Rawley Grau, Čander's literary debut, Blind Man (Slepec), is a very tongue-in-check exploration of politics and popular intellectualism. Given the fact that not a single character is named, all known by their occupations or their relation to the protagonist, who is a book editor and critic just like Čander himself, it reads quite like parody. He is drawn into politics accidentally, sliding on a slippery slope after agreeing to give a speech at an up and coming political organization's conference.

Within the newly formed government, he has a very ornamental position and his public facing role increasingly becomes to justify workings of the party, elected on an anti-corruption lead and now mired in its own grift. He also heads a glitzy division which basically does no actual work. It's fascinating to see the empty rhetoric in action, the speeches and discussions where a lot is said but there's zero substance. In this way, politics is very reminiscent of the neoliberal academe, and corpocracy in general: buzzwords, slogans, nothing but abstraction.



(I received a finished copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)

[Leniwa Wenus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I were able to do two things: read the book in Slovenian and understand the Slovenian political landscape better.
The beginning of the story was a bit difficult to get into as there wasn’t much going on, but it all changed mid-novel. Suddenly the protagonist changed drastically turning the narrative around.
I haven’t found an explanation if the political metaphors were meant as something abstract or they, in fact, served as descriptions of the government in times when the book was written. In any way, to me, that was the most interesting part of the story.

[Dolores · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pronicljiva, resnicna zgodba. Surova resnicnost, a ne pateticna, raje s humorjem. Tudi, ce gre za resno in boleco realnost.

[Estelle K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book because it is written in a way that you have to interpret the situations. For sire being blind person i politics is very challenging.

[SamB · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it a lot in the first half, but lost interest towards the end.

[Mariano RG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aquí se puede ver mi reseña:

¿NOS ENGAÑAN LOS POLÍTICOS? #Leyendo ESLOVENIA - EL CIEGO Mitja Čander #rant al final del vídeo 🔥 https://youtu.be/QxMthJJzFLs

[Dolf van der Haven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Around-the-world #116: Slovenia 🇸🇮.
A potentially interesting book about an intellectual getting lost in Slovene politics. It is decently written. However, I found it too full of clichés and ultimately will likely forget most of this novel.

[Cappuchino Maša · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny and easy to read. I had a great time reading it and learned a bit as well.