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美国国家公共电台 NPR A.M. Homes: Short Stories Are 'Food For The Soul And For The Mind'

时间:2018-06-20 08:37:46

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AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

A chat room for bird lovers, a summit on genocide, a superstore with an abandoned baby - these are the settings for just a few of the short stories in A.M. Homes' new collection, her first in more than 15 years. It's called "Days Of Awe1." A.M. Homes, welcome to the program.

A M HOMES: Thank you for having me.

CORNISH: So you've written novels and a memoir2 as well. And your first big break was in 1990 with another short story collection called "The Safety Of Objects." So what's the appeal of this particular form?

HOMES: I think there's a compression to short stories and a kind of sense that there is something already happening by the time you get there. I describe it as the train has already left the station, and the reader comes in, say, in Chicago. And that's very different than a novel that has a long sort of unfolding, pastoral approach to storytelling.

CORNISH: Now, in one of your stories there's an author who mentions being - feeling like interviews are an interrogation, so I won't do that (laughter).

HOMES: Thank you (laughter).

CORNISH: But...

HOMES: Yeah.

CORNISH: ...There are a few themes we want to talk about.

HOMES: Sure.

CORNISH: One is infidelity, which appears in several stories in one form or another, right? And I know that you have talked about this in your own life in your memoir, which was called "The Mistress's Daughter."

HOMES: Right.

CORNISH: What did you still want to explore about this idea?

HOMES: I think for me it's less about infidelity in its actual sort of for lack of a word practice but the notions of attachment3 and ambivalence4 and the complexity5 in people's lives and the fact that things can change over periods of time.

CORNISH: It seems like it also goes with another thing you've always written about, which is the difference between people's public face and private life.

HOMES: Yeah, I'm definitely if not obsessed6 by that - I think there's a big gap between who we are publicly and how we present ourselves and then who we are to ourselves and our families. And then most interesting to me over the last 10 years is also who we are in our online lives that we can have these either avatars or sort of other personas in our exchanges, or even the ways in which there's different tones to our emails. So I am deeply interested in that split between public and private self.

CORNISH: Let's talk a little bit more about that with the story "National Caged Bird Show." And I think you have a copy of the book. And we were hoping...

HOMES: I do.

CORNISH: ...You'd read a section. First, just tell us the basic plot point of this story.

HOMES: It's a story that's set in a parakeet chat room. And two people happen to find their way to the chat room - a young girl living in a very sort of sterile7 life on the Upper East Side in New York City and a soldier who's at war in what he calls one of the stands. He's not allowed to say which stand.

CORNISH: So the section I think we wanted to do is a little bit of dialogue, so to speak, where there's an introduction of sorts - right? - on Page 125.

HOMES: Sure. (Reading) Hey, wait; before you go, what's your name? Matthew Rose, i.e. ArMyRose. Is that your real name? Should I be using a fake name? I used NYCGirl2001. It seemed better than Grace. Grace is really nice. Thanks. Hey, one last question - what is it you like about birds? Their beauty and intelligence.

CORNISH: This is such a routine interaction in a way - right? - that we experience online. But it still requires an ear for dialogue, which you're also known for. Can you talk about trying to write this kind of dialogue?

HOMES: Well, this one is so specific because there's very different dialogue that one uses, for lack of a word, in chat rooms. I think my understanding of dialogue really comes from the theater. I grew up in Washington, D.C., going to plays at Arena8 Stage all the time. And so it was really the work of Edward Albee and Harold Pinter and Arthur Miller9 that gave me a sense of dialogue.

And in this case, the thing was, how do you represent these two main characters plus what I almost think of as the chorus around them, which is the other people who are witness to their conversations, and in ways that are kind of cryptic10 and condensed and almost like a Morse code for communication?

CORNISH: You talked about the theater being an influence, but are you also, you know, listening to the people around you, so to speak?

HOMES: I'm always listening. And I think there's that interesting difference between what we actually hear people say and how you account for that on the page or on the stage in those compressions that have to happen. I think Edward Albee was just so truly brilliant at that. And even the notion in this of the fear of what would you say or what would happen in the family I think comes in part from his influence on my own work.

CORNISH: And when you talk about Albee, this is also a writer who's dissected11 tensions in marriages.

HOMES: Absolutely.

CORNISH: And throughout, there a lot of relationships here which they're - it's almost like bottled explosions. There isn't always a separation, but there is a shift. And this seems like there's so many stories about the moment that that shift happens.

HOMES: Yeah, I'm interested in those shifts or fractures and things. And it's interesting 'cause he was a mentor12 to me. And he was somebody I knew, you know, throughout my life. And Edward, like me, was also adopted. And we talked a lot about that outsider experience and what that perspective was, but also about shifts in emotional states and that sense of ambivalence about relationships.

It's very hard, I think, for someone who has grown up feeling that their existence is somehow temporary or that they could be, you know, given back at some point to attach easily. So there's a lot about attachment in the stories always.

CORNISH: Or detachment.

HOMES: Well, actually, yes. Yes. Yeah.

CORNISH: Right? There's a lot of people who are kind of sleepwalking through their lives with their families.

HOMES: There are. But one of the stories called "Be Mine" is oddly a Valentine's story. And it's about a very sort of hostile exchange within a marriage. And yet it ends with them...

CORNISH: I was obsessed with this, by the way (laughter). I love this story.

HOMES: It's a pretty wild story. But it ends with the couple coming back together. And I love that about it, that you have these moments of tension and horrible exchange, and you really think one of them is leaving. I mean, even they think that.

CORNISH: Right, this line where he says, do you ever stop complaining, he asked. No, she says, horrified13. It would be like I'd given up hope (laughter).

HOMES: Well, exactly, which is so twisted and funny.

CORNISH: I think a lot of people maybe have had that moment where you're like, no, I mean, the fact that we're having this battle means I want to be here.

HOMES: Exactly. But I think that that's the thing that is sometimes lost on people because the fact that you're willing to engage in that way and be annoyed - you're invested.

CORNISH: Do you think that people have more or less respect for this kind of storytelling? There was a time when there was a kind of dismissiveness about stories about couples and affairs and families.

HOMES: I think throughout history there have always been wonderful stories about couples and families. I mean, that is the stuff of life. And the nice thing is they come in what I call doses. You know, you can read one story. You don't have to read a whole book of stories at a time. So you read one or two, and then they sit with you for a while. I think they're a medication.

CORNISH: A medication - explain.

HOMES: You know, literally14. We're living in such complicated times that if you can sit down and read a story or two stories, depending on what you need, it's food for thought, but it's also for the soul and for the mind to see life reflected back to you in a way that is both funny and moving and complex.

CORNISH: A.M. Homes - her new collection of short stories is called "Days Of Awe." Thank you for speaking with ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.

HOMES: Thank you for having me.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 awe WNqzC     
n.敬畏,惊惧;vt.使敬畏,使惊惧
参考例句:
  • The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
  • The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。
2 memoir O7Hz7     
n.[pl.]回忆录,自传;记事录
参考例句:
  • He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
  • In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中,她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。
3 attachment POpy1     
n.附属物,附件;依恋;依附
参考例句:
  • She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
  • She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。
4 ambivalence ixVzV     
n.矛盾心理
参考例句:
  • She viewed her daughter's education with ambivalence.她看待女儿的教育问题态度矛盾。
  • She felt a certain ambivalence towards him.她对他的态度有些矛盾。
5 complexity KO9z3     
n.复杂(性),复杂的事物
参考例句:
  • Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
  • The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。
6 obsessed 66a4be1417f7cf074208a6d81c8f3384     
adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的
参考例句:
  • He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
  • The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。
7 sterile orNyQ     
adj.不毛的,不孕的,无菌的,枯燥的,贫瘠的
参考例句:
  • This top fits over the bottle and keeps the teat sterile.这个盖子严实地盖在奶瓶上,保持奶嘴无菌。
  • The farmers turned the sterile land into high fields.农民们把不毛之地变成了高产田。
8 arena Yv4zd     
n.竞技场,运动场所;竞争场所,舞台
参考例句:
  • She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
  • He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。
9 miller ZD6xf     
n.磨坊主
参考例句:
  • Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
  • The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。
10 cryptic yyDxu     
adj.秘密的,神秘的,含义模糊的
参考例句:
  • She made a cryptic comment about how the film mirrored her life.她隐晦地表示说这部电影是她人生的写照。
  • The new insurance policy is written without cryptic or mysterious terms.新的保险单在编写时没有隐秘条款或秘密条款。
11 dissected 462374bfe2039b4cdd8e07c3ee2faa29     
adj.切开的,分割的,(叶子)多裂的v.解剖(动物等)( dissect的过去式和过去分词 );仔细分析或研究
参考例句:
  • Her latest novel was dissected by the critics. 评论家对她最近出版的一部小说作了详细剖析。
  • He dissected the plan afterward to learn why it had failed. 他事后仔细剖析那项计划以便搞清它失败的原因。 来自《简明英汉词典》
12 mentor s78z0     
n.指导者,良师益友;v.指导
参考例句:
  • He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
  • He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。
13 horrified 8rUzZU     
a.(表现出)恐惧的
参考例句:
  • The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
  • We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。
14 literally 28Wzv     
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实
参考例句:
  • He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
  • Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候,她不走到真正要昏厥了,决不肯坐下来。

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