MEMORIA PARA XOANA MARICA CAMPO

Traducin de Philip Webb e Silvia Rodrguez

10

Debo confesarche que non me gusta moito o mundo ao que vas chegar. Tamn por iso dubidei da oportunidade do teu nacemento. Hai mis de cen anos que un escritor noso imaxinou un Deus vellio, asomando entre as nubes para contemplar a Terra, que dica: Se este o mundo que eu fixen, que o demo me leve. Dende aquela, as cousas non foron a mellor. Verdade que avanzou moito a ciencia. Chegaron La, tocaron Marte, escudriaron as galaxias, mais non somos quen de ver o que temos preto de ns ou, se o vemos, como o potencial inimigo para o que hai que ter na recmara sempre unha pala mis forte, Quroche dicir que, os Amos do Mundo, no canto de se saberen tripulantes desta grande nave espacial que a Terra, cun destino comn polo tanto, reparten morte aqu mentres aspiran conquista do universo. Verdade que producimos mis alimentos, pero a fame no mundo vai a mis. Non se produce para repartir, senn para especular.

Chapter 10

I have to confess that I dont much like the world into which you shall arrive. Therefore I also had my doubts over the one opportunity for your birth. It was more than a hundred years ago that one of our writers imagined a little old God, sticking out from between the clouds to contemplate The Earth, who said if this is the world that I have made, may the devil take me.From then on things did not go as well as they could have. Its true that science has advanced a great deal. People have been to The Moon, theyve touched the surface of Mars, theyve surveyed the many galaxies, but were still unable to see what we have closest to us, or if we do its as a potential enemy for whom we must continually have an ever-more powerful bullet in the chamber. What I mean to tell you is that the Masters of the World, instead of being the crew of this great space shuttle known as The Earth, with a common destiny therefore, administer death here at the same time that they aspire to the conquest of the universe. Though its true that we produce more food, world hunger only increases. Production is not for sharing but for the speculators.

Frzanse os ritmos e, contrariando as leis da natureza, envelnase a cadea alimenticia nunha tola carreira cara algn abismo de que descoecemos o final. Cranse as doenzas, mais sguese a desprezar a vida humana e, a pena de morte, de feito ou de dereito, contina vixente en todo o mundo. Non deixa de ser curioso que o pas mis rico e podente, o que coida que o mis demcrata, axustice subnormais e persoas que cometeron os seus crimes sendo menores de idade. Hai un sur de pobreza que non pode acceder ao Norte da abundancia porque, en contra das palabras da nosa mis grande escritora, toda a terra Non dos homes. Chegan, malpocados, salferidos de mar e angustia, homes e nenos, mulleres embarazadas, os desherdados do planeta, pero hai un muro. E non vou seguir con este catlogo de calamidades porque, quizais, non terminara nunca. Anda hai quen confa no poder salvador do que chaman globalizacin, pero non outra cousa que mis liberdade para os que negocian e explotan e menos futuro para os pobres. Perdoa, mia nena, que te reciba nun mundo tan inhspito. Perdoa este milagre que a vida a xermolar no medio de tanta podremia.

The natural rhythm has been forced and, going contrary to the laws of nature, the food chain has been debased and put upon some mad course heading toward an abyss, the result of which we know not. Diseases have been cured but human life is still cheap, and the death penalty, operating de facto or under the law, remains at large across the world. It still is odd that the richest, most powerful and self-declared most democratic country in the world puts to justice the mentally ill and those who commit their crimes when under the age of majority. There is a poverty-stricken South which cannot reach the abundant North because, contrary to the words of our greatest writer, all land does NOT pertain to all men. They arrive, victimised, and wounded by sea and distress, men and children, pregnant women, the underprivileged of the world, but there is a wall. And I shall not continue with this catalogue of calamities because, perhaps, it would never end. There are still those who trust in the saving power of what they call globalisation, but its nothing more than greater freedom for those who barter and exploit and less of a future for the poor. Im sorry, my child, that I shall receive you in such an inhospitable world. Im sorry for the miracle that is life, which germinates in the midst of so much rot.

Hai un autor, Italo Calvino, de quen eu gusto moito, que quixera que leses. El, no seu libro As cidades invisibles, faille dicir a Marco Polo:
O inferno dos vivos non algo por vir; se hai un, o que xa est aqu, o inferno que habitamos todos os das, que formamos estando xuntos. Haiche dous xeitos para non sufrilo. O primeiro resulta doado a moitos: aceptar o inferno e volverse parte del ata o punto de non velo xa. O segundo audaz e esixe atencin e aprendizaxe de continuo: buscar e saber quen e que cousa, no medio do inferno, non inferno, e facelo durar, e facerlle sitio.

Eu intento seguir o consello de Marco Polo, anda que, como xa che dixen, a mido non consigo administrar a alegra. como se vertese toda a partitura nunha nota e despois me quedase o pentagrama baleiro. Sei moi ben que nunca quixen formar parte do inferno integrndome nel e que, xustamente por iso, o vexo. Sei tamn que, anda a eses espacios que non son inferno, levamos a memoria. E, dende logo, non quixera estar na mia torre de marfn, allea ao mundo que sofre. Son unha muller solitaria, mais non quero estar isolada. Non entendas, meu ben que vs de camio, que pretendo dirixir a ta vida. Non. Eu, como dixo un poeta, libre te quero, pero non mia. Desgraciadamente haber outros que si pretendern

There is a writer, Italo Calvino, who I like a lot, and who I wanted you to read. He, in his book The Invisible Cities, has Marco Polo declare:
The hell of the living isnt something to come; if there is one, its already here, the hell we inhabit everyday, the one we made together. There are two ways to avoid suffering it. The first is easy for many people: taking hell and becoming part of it, to the point of not seeing it. The second is audacious and demands some attention and a constant learning: looking for and knowing who and what, in the middle of hell, isnt hell, and making it last, and giving them a place.

I try to follow Marco Polos advice, although, as Ive already told you, I cant manage happiness often. Its as if the whole score were to be fused into one note, leaving me naught but an empty stave. I know for sure that Ive never wanted to be part of hell, to join it, and it is precisely for this reason that I can see it. I also know that we take our memories even to those spaces that arent hell. And of course, I wouldnt like to stay in my ivory tower, unaware of the suffering world. Im a solitary woman, but I dont want to be isolated. Dont think, my darling soon-to-be, that Im trying to control your life. No. As one poet said, I want you free, but not mine. Unfortunately there will be others who shall attempt

suplir hora de pensar. Nunca lles vers o rostro, mais estn a, multpodos e tentaculares. Refrome aos medios de comunicacin, refrome a ese Gran Irmn que profetizara Orwell. Non enganan, repara nalgn dos seus lemas: Deixe que ns pensemos por vostede. Non precisan facelo, porque xa antes conseguiron

canonizar o pensamento nico e convencer de que a diferencia cousa do diao. Libre te quero, mia nena, coa liberdade que d o coecemento e a dbida. Libre despois de percorreres, de te faceres dona dos pensamentos que nos deixaron escritos milleiros de mulleres e homes que non pasaron pola vida en balde. Teo que che dicir que me gustara que foses unha boa lectora. Repara en que eu, a mido, apoio os meu pensamentos no que idearon outros e, daquela, xa son menos cativos. Lembra, se o tes a ben, que un dese lugares que debes preservar, que non inferno, a literatura.

to supplant your thoughts. Youll never see their faces, but theyre there, with many legs and tentacles. I mean mass media, I mean the Big Brother prophesied by Orwell. They hide not their motives, take note of the slogan: Let us think for you. They dont need to do it, because theyve managed to canonize unity of thought and convince us that difference is of the devil Free I want you my child, with the liberty granted by knowledge and doubt. Free, after travelling, after mastering the thoughts that have been left to us by myriad women and men who did not live in vain. I have to tell you that Id like you to be a good reader. Notice that I usually base my ideas on what was thought by others and, then, they become less insignificant. Remember, if youll be so kind, that one of the places you must preserve, that isnt hell, is to be found within literature.