The translation of the world

«We become men (or women) as we read — in search of something similar, for we have turned to fiction throughout the centuries. This is what we ask of you: the construction of who we are or want to be, or the slow discovery of ourselves through the words of others.»

Life is a point of view: each individual is condemned to live confined within a perspective, subject to the coordinates and limitations it imposes. Adopting another point of view, besides being extremely difficult, requires high doses of imagination, curiosity, and insight.

What role does literature play in this? Is it the only stronghold where the world can be interpreted and illuminated? Is there in literature an exclusive and inimitable way to elucidate the complexities of human experience, to illuminate the «invisible life».

The knowledge that emerges from this is more indispensable today than ever: if we live increasingly confined to an individual reality and less shaped for shared experiences, the «immersion in the other» has never been so vital.

These texts were born from an invitation from the University of Oxford for Juan Gabriel Vásquez to deliver the prestigious Weidenfeld Lectures, previously entrusted to writers such as Mario Vargas Llosa, George Steiner, Umberto Eco, or Ali Smith.