Lusitania: Prologue by Dejan Atanacković
translated by Rachael Daum
N., the famous explorer of the expanses of the northern seas, briefed the public shortly after the unfortunate sinking of the Titanic in the year 1912 on his particular knowledge regarding icebergs. He was, namely, the first researcher who had established the relationship between the visible and invisible portions of the icy masses, concluding that the sections above and underneath the water always occurred in a ratio of one-to-eight. That, however, wasn’t all. At the press conference, the bold adventurer reported that within each iceberg, or more precisely within those hidden seven-eighths, was hidden the entirety of an upturned house. It had been those houses of manifold eras and forms, N. asserted, in whose existence he had come to believe after observing them with his own eyes, or more precisely through the visor of his diving helmet, during his underwater investigation. Not far off the L. Archipelago, N. contended, an entire city appeared before him floating upsidedown. This knowledge had granted N. indisputable insight into the nature and nascence of icebergs because, as he would soon establish, there was no iceberg that did not thusly carry a house in its underwater womb. An iceberg, declared N. to the astounded representatives of the press, is created on the island R. when a winter reigns so cold that now and again the whole island freezes and gulps down a number of houses which, forsaken and banded in ice, rise and break away from the soil, skid down the steep bank, and disappear into the sea. Some of the houses were massive indeed, said N., proper many-storey mansions (after all, imagine what a colossus hides under the icy mass stretching some tens of meters above the water). Others were quite modest: cottages and shacks, cabins and weekend homes. And in each one, through the windows and glass doors N. observed everything beautifully preserved: cabinets and chiffoniers, armchairs and chandeliers, lace curtains, libraries and toys, dishes and pitchers, things that, through some miracle unspoiled, floated upside down through the rooms as though dancing. Before one house, N. looked long and in awe at a cup of such fine glass that it seemed it might shatter with a touch. He observed as the cup lightly tapped against the window, as though summoning him. In those rooms, N. concluded, hid the greatest secret: the secret of the forsaken house. It was a secret so great and terrible that it would have been of little consequence to an observer, for example N., whether it was a castle or a log cabin that it was kept in. That was how deep the secret went. And now the journalists observed N.’s thoughtful and melancholy countenance, as he had fallen unnaturally silent, as though suddenly the knowledge of the existence of the upturned underwater cities and the origin of icebergs were utterly irrelevant when set against that fragile, floating cup.
Luzitanija
N., poznati istraživač severnih morskih prostranstava, obavestio je javnost godine 1912, ubrzo nakon nesrećnog potapanja Titanika, o svom neobičnom saznanju povodom ledenih bregova. Bio je to, naime, prvi istraživač koji je ustanovio odnos vidljivog i nevidljivog dela ledene mase, te zaključio da nadvodni deo uvek stoji u odnosu na podvodni u srazmeri jedan prema osam. To međutim nije bilo sve. Odvažni pustolov, na konferenciji za novinare, objavio je da se u svakom ledenom bregu, tačnije u onih skrivenih sedam osmina, zapravo krila po jedna izvrnuta kuća. Bile su to kuće raznovrsnih epoha i oblika, tvrdio je N., koji se, tokom podvodnog istraživanja, svojim očima, tačnije kroz vizir svoje ronilačke kacige, uverio u njihovo postojanje. Nedaleko od arhipelaga L., pod vodom se, kako je N. tvrdio, pred njime ukazao čitav jedan grad koji je plutao naglavačke. To je saznanje pronicljivom N-u smesta pružilo nesumnjiv uvid u prirodu i poreklo ledenih bregova jer, kako će ubrzo ustanoviti, nije bilo ledenog brega koji u svome podvodnom trbuhu nije nosio po jednu takvu kuću. Ledeni breg, saopštio je N. začuđenim predstavnicima štampe, nastaje kada na ostrvu R. zavlada tako hladna zima da se katkad čitavo ostrvo smrzne i zima proguta brojne kuće, koje se, napuštene i obavijene ledom, izdignu i odvoje od tla, te ubrzo skliznu niz strmu obalu i nestanu u moru. Poneke su kuće bile uistinu ogromne, kaže N., prave višespratne palate (zamislite, uostalom, kakva se grdosija, srazmerno gledano, krije ispod ledene mase koja se nad vodom uzdiže nekoliko desetina metara), druge su bile sasvim skromne, kućice i straćare, omanji konaci i vikendice, i u svakoj je kroz prozore i zastakljena vrata N. osmatrao lepo očuvane stvari, kredence i šifonjere, fotelje i lustere, čipkane zavese, biblioteke i igračke, posuđe i bokale, stvari što su, nekim čudom neokrnjene, naglavce plutale sobama, kao da plešu. Tako je, pred jednim kućerkom, N. dugo i zadivljeno osmatrao čašu tako tananog stakla da se naizgled na dodir mogla rasprsnuti, i ta je čaša lako kuckala o staklo prozora, kao da ga doziva. U tim se sobama, saopštava na kraju N., krila najveća tajna: tajna napuštene kuće. Bila je to tajna tako velika i strašna da je nekom posmatraču, na primer N-u, moralo biti gotovo svejedno da li je reč o dvorcu ili brvnari. Toliko je njihova tajna bila duboka. I sada, novinari osmatraju N-ov zamišljen i setan lik, jer on se nekako neobično ućutao, kao da mu je najednom saznanje o postojanju izvrnutih podvodnih gradova i poreklu ledenih bregova sasvim nevažno spram te krhke, plutajuće čaše.
Dejan Atanacković (Belgrade, 1969) is an artist and author who has held independent exhibitions since the 1990s. He teaches courses in visual arts and culture at university programs in Florence, Italy. He is the recipient of the 2017 NIN Prize for his first novel Lusitania, published by Besna Kobila in 2017. He is the author of the collection of short stories Man Without a Tongue out from the same publisher in 2018. He also has served as a columnist for the NIN Journal since September 2018. He lives between Belgrade and Florence.
Rachael Daum work as the Communications and Awards Manager of the American Literary Translators Association. She received her BA in Creative Writing from the University of Rochester and MA in Slavic Studies from Indiana University, and received Certificates in Literary Translation from both institutions. Her original work and translations have appeared in Tupelo Quarterly, Two Lines Journal, EuropeNow Journal, Queen Mob’s Teahouse, and elsewhere. She currently lives and works in Cologne, Germany.
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