European literature is built on hundreds of overlapping periods, styles, influences, whether linear, historical, and diachronic, or nonlinear, cyclical and synchronic. These perspectives form its DNA coil, its strength and its influence on cultures and societies developed over centuries. No matter how divided by different languages, by its development European literature depended more and more on its translators to interpret the magnificent creations of the greatest writers such as Cervantes, Dante or Shakespeare. The translation served as a linguistic ‘mirror’ into the other culture and society, into the other world we lack the code to decipher. The project Mirroring the World: European Literary Lifeline puts the literary translation into focus as a tool that helps us cross borders, understand the language and culture we were not born in and enter the new worlds writers created in the never-ending pursuit of free spaces. Partners have selected six important literary works originally written in four different languages (Croatian, Slovenian, Italian, Bulgarian) which will be translated to four languages in total (English, Italian, Slovenian, Croatian) and created a plan how to make these books visible and widely read in three countries participating in the project, as well as throughout Europe and the world.

List of works

• Vera Mutafchieva: Slučajat Džem. Translation from Bolgarian into English by Angela Rodel.
• Nada Gašić: Voda, paučina. Translation from Croatian into English by Ellen Elias Bursać.
• Federica Marzi: La mia casa altrove. Translation from Italian into English by Jim Hicks.
• Sebastijan Pregelj: V Elvisovi sobi. Translation from Slovene into English by Rawley Grau.
• Marija Dejanović: Dobrota razdvaja dan i noć. Translation from Croatian into English by Vesna Marić.
• Federica Marzi: La mia casa altrove. Translation from Italian into Croatian by Lorena Kmet.
• Sebastijan Pregelj: V Elvisovi sobi. Translation from Slovene into Croatian by Anita Peti-Stantić.
• Vera Mutafchieva: Slučajat Džem. Translation from Bolgarian into Slovene by Borut Omerzel.
• Nada Gašić: Voda, paučina. Translation from Croatian into Slovene by Sonja Dolžan.
• Robert Perišić: Užas i veliki troškovi. Translation from Croatian into Italian by Elvira Mujčić.
• Sebastijan Pregelj: V Elvisovi sobi. Translation from Slovene into Italian by Michele Obit.

This panopticon of translations will bring together many regional and pan-European readers discovering forgotten literary gems as well as vibrant contemporary authors.