ću pažnju privlače džinovske dir- ke klavira po kojima besomučno gaze bosa deca, a bogme i odrasli. Posle svega, ako vam je još uvek stalo do osećaja važnosti, možete popiti kafu u lobiju čuvenog hotela „Valdorf Astorija“ u kome odsedaju predsednici i krunisane glave. Ne- kada je tu bio i Vinston Čerčil. Pa potom ne propustite Grand cen- tral. Uzbuđuje me svest o tome da kroz glavni hol terminala dnevno prođe pola miliona putnika. Sva- ko od njih ima svoju životnu pri- ču. Ono što se obično naziva sud- binom. Kuda dalje? Mogu da odem do Tajms skve- ra gde se raznobojni slapovi ogla- sa i najnovijih vesti slivaju niz zi- dove kao medijski vodopadi. Ili do Rokfeler centra. Ili Empajer stejt bi- ldinga kako bih osmotrio Njujork sa vrtoglave visine. Ili da se prošetam do prodavnice nakita „Tifani“ koju je u svom romanu „Doručak kod Ti- fanija“ ovekovečio Truman Kapote. Kako se izboriti sa obiljem, bo- lje reći viškom izbora? Za početak treba shvatiti da je sveobuhvatnost nemoguća. Kako se tada može obja- sniti i još više razumeti odvažnost, bolje reći drskost da pišem o gra- du koji i sam ne zna svoje granice? Koji se neprestano menja i proteže. Možda zato što sam odustao od sve- obuhvatnog prikaza. Što sam priču sveo na domašaj svog ličnog isku- stva. Na godine koje sam u Nju- jorku proveo kao dopisnik. Na to da sam u to vreme tridesetak puta preleteo okean u oba pravca. Da mi to daje makar malo prava da govo- rim o gradu koji se ne može u celini opisati. Da se, najzad, o mom viđe- nju Njujorka i Amerike može ne- što pročitati u publicističkom delu „Trbuh sveta“ u izdanju „Prosvete“ (1987) i u romanima „Njujork, Be- ograd (2009), po kome je snimljen i film, i „Grand central“ (2015) u iz- danju „Lagune“. Duboko sam svestan da je to sa- mo mrvica onoga što se može napi- sati o Njujorku. Nadam se, ipak, da će do trpeljivog čitaoca ta mrvica narasti makar do veličine grudve.
FROM MY ANGLE: DUŠAN MIKLJA, WRITER New York isn’t an apple, it’s a gigantic honeycomb The “Capital of the World” sprawls not only upwards, with the world’s densest cluster of skyscrapers, but also downwards, beneath the asphalt-covered ground. Suffice to say that more earth was excavated to make way for the vaulted ceilings and branch stations of Grand Central Terminal than for the Panama Canal I n a Borgesian sense, New York
Who cares about the king Merely strolling the streets of New York feels like touring an im- aginary ethnographic museum. This can also be taken literally, because not a week goes by without Fifth Av- enue hosting a parade of one of the city’s many ethnic communities. Al- so testifying to this universal quality of New York is the fact that 40,000 diplomats and 7,000 UN officials live in the city with their family mem- bers... They compose the world’s larg- est international community – a mi- ni world city. In such a throng, Hollywood greats sitting in some café go com- pletely unnoticed, while a visit of the Dalai Lama or the king of West Af- rica’s Asante people is viewed more like a folk tradition happening than a political event. It is totally normal for New Yorkers when a king who has millions of subjects in some faraway land participates in a carnival parade
is less the “Big Apple”, as it is commonly dubbed, and more like a gigantic honeycomb, with cells reflecting the rich abun- dance of human existence. The time- less and spaceless towers of Babel in the stories of that Argentinian writer can thus easily be imagined as repre- senting the high-rise towers of Man- hattan. A total of 61 languages are spo- ken in this contemporary Tower of Babel, and even English. This “even” wasn’t included erroneously or un- intentionally, as there are parts of New York where communication isn’t possible without knowledge of Spanish or Chinese. According to data from one of the most recent census- es, there are several dozen Manhat- tan residents who live from hunting, while nearly two hundred Inuits feel at home living in reservations made of steel and concrete.
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