From Silence to Memory: Seeking an English Publisher for Slovenia's Bestselling Oral History Collection

MM -

 




"A unique oral history of ordinary people, their intimate lives, struggles, and resilience in twentieth-century Europe.

The collection was originally published by Jutri2052 as an independent publishing project. As the author, I am therefore personally seeking an international publisher interested in bringing this unique work to English-speaking readers.

More than fifty years ago, I embarked on a journey without knowing where it would lead me. I began collecting stories and testimonies from people whom history usually overlooks. I wanted to understand how ordinary men and women lived, loved, suffered, worked, and died beyond the reach of historians, anthropologists, ethnologists, and other scholars.

The result is the five-volume collection Fire, Arse and Snakes Are Not for Playing With (Ogenj, rit in kače niso za igrače), one of Slovenia's most successful and widely discussed literary projects of recent decades. Across five books, more than four thousand authentic life stories have been preserved on nearly two thousand pages. The first volume is a particularly valuable historical document because it contains testimonies from people born in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Most of them are no longer alive today, and without these recordings their memories would have disappeared forever.

These testimonies belong to what is now known as citizen science — the preservation of knowledge and lived experience through the voices of ordinary people rather than through official institutions alone.

Within these pages, readers encounter poverty, hunger, hard labour, family hardship, and violence, but also love, humour, ingenuity, and an extraordinary capacity for survival. One of the book's greatest strengths is its willingness to address subjects that remained hidden in silence for generations. It speaks openly about sexuality, relationships between men and women, the position of women in society, marriage, childbirth, shame, fear, and the social rules that shaped the lives of our ancestors.

Although these stories are Slovenian, their essence is universal.

Readers in London, New York, Sydney, or Toronto will recognise lives remarkably similar to those of their own grandparents and great-grandparents. The places and languages may differ, but human hopes, fears, suffering, and aspirations remain the same. This is why the book transcends national borders.

Today, we speak frequently about preserving cultural heritage. Yet heritage is not only castles, churches, and museum collections. Heritage is also found in people's stories, memories, experiences, and hard-earned wisdom. If we fail to record them, they disappear forever.

Fire, Arse and Snakes Are Not for Playing With is one of the largest projects of oral-history collection ever undertaken in Slovenia. It offers a unique resource for historians, sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and anyone interested in the realities of everyday life during the twentieth century. At the same time, it remains highly accessible to general readers because it is built from stories that are honest, direct, and deeply human.

The international relevance of these testimonies has already been demonstrated by the animated documentary Grandma's Sexual Life, inspired by stories from the collection. The film received numerous prestigious international awards, including the European Film Award, often described as the European equivalent of an Oscar.

Readers around the world would recognise in these testimonies something that transcends national, cultural, and linguistic boundaries: the truth about being human. They reveal desires, fears, love, pain, resilience, and dignity. Most importantly, they open a window onto a world that remained hidden behind silence for generations—not only in Slovenia, but throughout much of the world.

For that reason, Fire, Arse and Snakes Are Not for Playing With is not merely a Slovenian book.

It is a book about humanity.

And humanity speaks every language.




The collection was originally published by Jutri2052 as an independent publishing project. As the author, I am therefore personally seeking an international publisher interested in bringing this unique work to English-speaking readers.


CONTACT: jutri2052@gmail.com

Komentarji

Objavite komentar

Priljubljene objave iz tega spletnega dnevnika

ŽENSKE, KI SO SE SAME PONUJALE

MM -
Slika
  vir (ta fotka ni fotomontaža, je zapisal B. Požar) Ko je iz š la moja knjiga Mehko kot britev , so se mi za č ele ogla š ati bralci obeh spolov z zgodbami, ki so na prvi pogled zvenele kot iz č asov neko č popularnih »groupijev«. Ka že, da ženske niso bile le žrtve – kot v mojem romanu, znanim osebnostim so se tudi same ponujale. Gospod X X, ki je skoraj 46 let igral v nekem znanem narodno zabavnem ansamblu, je na zelo slikovit način opisal pretep dveh, ki sta se borili za pozornost njihovega kitarista, ki je bil v resnici ''srečno'' poročen, a ju to ni odvrnilo od tega, da bi se mu nastavljali. Več podobnih zgodb sem prebrala tudi v knjigi JOŽETA GALIČA. ''DOBR' SMO GA SRAL''. Spominjam se svojih dijaških let. Vrstnica je bila na smrt zaljubljena v danes že pokojnega kitarista, ki je špilal v takrat zelo znani skupini. Meni se je zdel grd kot smrtni greh, ona pa je njegovo koščeno postavo z umazanimi dolgimi lasmi oboževala. V zameno, ker sem...
Read more »

NOVA FACEBOOK STRAN, KI JE NAMENJENA SAMOZALOŽNIKOM

MM -
Slika
           Število samozaložnikov iz leta v leto bolj narašča Z nekaterimi samozaložniki smo se že pred časom pogovarjali o ustanovitvi društva. A potem smo, žal, ugotovili, da ''društvo'' prinese s seboj kup nepotrebne administracije, predvsem pa stroškov, zato smo se premislili. Zdi se, da je facebook- oblika združevanja, sporočanja, komuniciranja.....ravno pravšnja, saj ni obvezujoča. Še več: vsak, ki želi karkoli povedati, ima zmeraj možnost, da to stori. Istočasna pa je ta stran lahko nekakšna oglasna deska, ki bo sporočala vsem, ki jih bo to zanimalo, če bo kdo od prijateljev izdal novo knjigo. Prav tako bomo lahko skupaj pomagali tistim, ki bodo iskali tiskarja, ilustratorje, lektorje.... Ena od idej je bila, da bi objavljali možnosti za literarne večere, skupne nastope (recimo) pesnikov...? Vsem, ki ste si  na Facebooku ''samozaložniki Slovenije'' izbrali za prijatelja - dobrodošli! Nekaj odgovorov na najbol...
Read more »

KADAR SREČAM TE, MOJE NEKDANJE DEKLE

MM -
Slika
  Dolgo sem zbirala pogum, da bi zapisala svojo zgodbo, pa si nisem upala. Šele, ko sem prebrala Milenino knjigo Ogenj, rit in kače niso za igrače, sem se usedla k pisanju. To sem naredila tudi ob moževi spodbudi, ki pozna vse podrobnosti. Po tem, ko sem zapisala vse, kar sem nosila v sebi, se bolje počutim. Bila sem vesela srednješolka. Moja družina je živela na Bledu, kjer nam nikoli ni bilo dolgčas. Če s prijateljico nisva imeli drugega dela, sva opazovali tuje turiste, zlasti turistkinje, ter občudovali njihova oblačila. Med tednom sem živela v internatu, obiskovala gimnazijo in počela še tisoč postranskih stvari, saj mi je šlo učenje dobro od rok. 15. aprila, bila sem že v 3. letniku, sem na avtobusni postaji v Ljubljani stala v vrsti za krofe. Če se prav spomnim, so jih sami cvrli. Bili so zelo dobri! Ko pridem na vrsto, ugotovim, da nimam dovolj denarja! Če bi kupila krof, bi mi zmanjkalo za avtobus. »Bom jaz častil!« se oglasi za mojim hrbtom. Ozrem se! Za menoj je ...
Read more »