Marta is a very special Polish friend of mine. We got acquainted in the US in a shabby house in Seaside Park, New Jersey. She told me she was studying English Literature. I was happy to meet an intelligent person (locals were not very clever ones 🙂 ) and I told her I loved reading. Guess what she told me? Sure she said she loved reading too! That moment was a start of our friendship lasting for almost ten years.
Marta is the person who opened the doors to the huge world that was not translated to Lithuanian. I was shocked by the idea how blind I was living in that tiny world of Lithuanian translations and imagining being so clever and educated. Even though we studied English a lot at school we hardly held an English book in our hands.
It was such a good kick to the ass… Quantum scimus, gutta est, ignoramus mare. Yes, it is! Now the idea that somebody decides what books should be translated and presented to Lithuanians drives me crazy! Somebody was limiting my book life, narrowing my possibilities, stealing masterpieces! (yea, yea, that’s me, do not touch my rights to freedom!)
Here it is my first book read in English – Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg. By now I have rea
d all books by this writer as well as Marta. And we do recommend books to each other!
I write this in English because I do want her to read these lines and know how grateful I am and how much I love her and miss her and remember every time I read a book in English. Thanks, dear, for that big world of English books!
/Little Rat L
knyguziurkes.com 