美国国家公共电台 NPR--Winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize in literature goes to French writer Annie Ernaux

Winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize in literature goes to French writer Annie Ernaux

Transcript¹

Ernaux often addresses issues of gender², language, class and shame in her work. Her writing blurs³ the line between memoir⁴ and fiction such as A Woman's Story, I Remain in Darkness and Cleaned Out.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

French writer Annie Ernaux has won this year's Nobel Prize in literature. NPR's Neda Ulaby joins us now to tell us all about the winner. So, Neda, who is Annie Ernaux?

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE⁵: Well, she is an 82-year-old writer and professor who grew up in the French countryside after World War II. Ernaux was the daughter of grocers, and she's written more than 20 books that plumb⁶ deeply in her own life experience. When the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy made the announcement this morning, he had this to say about her selection.

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MATS MALM: Annie Ernaux manifestly believes in the liberating⁷ force of writing. Her work is uncompromising and written in plain language, scraped clean.

ULABY: So, A, Annie Ernaux's life is her intellectual project. She writes memoirs⁸ and autobiographical novels. She returns to her own experiences over and over and over, holding them up like gems⁹, looking for new facets¹⁰ and insights into her life, which include her mother's death, her mother's dementia, her coming of age, her sexual experiences at summer camp, her affair with a Russian diplomat¹¹ and, maybe most notably¹² right now, her illegal abortion¹³ in 1963, which she wrote about in her book, the "Happening."

MART?NEZ: And I love the description of her writing style - written in plain language, scraped clean. Now, do you think the Swedish Academy was making some sort of larger point by picking a writer who was centered - who was the center of the story of her own abortion?

ULABY: No, absolutely not. The Swedish Academy makes a giant point every year of loftily removing itself from the concerns of whatever is happening in the world. So, for example, it would - every year, people predict that the Syrian writer Adunis is going to win - he's a celebrated¹⁴ poet, and it would obviously speak to what's happening in the world - nope, nope, nope. They love political literature, but they are always very careful to make clear they are not reacting to whatever is happening in the world at the moment.

MART?NEZ: All right. Now, what's the reaction been to her selection?

ULABY: Annie Ernaux is a tremendously well-respected writer, hugely admired, and unlike, for example, last year's winner, her work is widely available in translation. You can go to any good bookstore and probably find at least one of her books. Last year, a movie based on her book about her abortion won The Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Ernaux is a wonderful choice in many ways. I think she's the 17th woman to win the Nobel Prize in literature. But it should also be noted¹⁵ that she is the third French writer to win the Nobel Prize in literature in less than 15 years. So we are definitely seeing what has been described as a certain kind of laziness on the part of the Swedish Academy. It's very focused on Euro writers. There's a kind of Francophilia here. And the permanent secretary was asked about this this morning, and he said something along the lines that - well, it basically amounted to, well, you know, it's not our fault that the rest of the world's literature does not meet our high standards.

MART?NEZ: All right. So let's just say one of our listeners is paying attention, says, I want to read an Annie Ernaux book. What book should they start with?

ULABY: I - honestly, her books are so gorgeous, I don't think you could go wrong with any of them. The "Happening" is certainly the one that's most in the news. And her novel, "A Girl's Story," is a contemporary feminist¹⁶ classic. Her influences, just to sort of give your - our listeners a sort of sense of what to expect, they range from Simone de Beauvoir to Marcel Proust. Her book "The Years" intertwines her own story with the post-war history of France that goes all the way through the introduction of the internet and into the 21st century.

MART?NEZ: That's NPR's Neda Ulaby. Neda, thanks a lot.

ULABY: Thank you.

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1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

3 blurs   

n.模糊( blur的名词复数 )；模糊之物；（移动的）模糊形状；模糊的记忆v.（使）变模糊( blur的第三人称单数 )；（使）难以区分

参考例句：

• The electron clouds are clearly visible as blurs surrounding the invisible nuclei. 电子云就象环绕着看不见的核的一片云雾。 来自辞典例句
• The letter had many blots and blurs. 信上有许多墨水渍和污迹。 来自辞典例句

4 memoir   

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。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 plumb   

adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深

参考例句：

• No one could plumb the mystery.没人能看破这秘密。
• It was unprofitable to plumb that sort of thing.这种事弄个水落石出没有什么好处。

7 liberating   

解放，释放( liberate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Revolution means liberating the productive forces. 革命就是为了解放生产力。
• They had already taken on their shoulders the burden of reforming society and liberating mankind. 甚至在这些集会聚谈中，他们就已经夸大地把改革社会、解放人群的责任放在自己的肩头了。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

8 memoirs   

n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数)

参考例句：

• Her memoirs were ghostwritten. 她的回忆录是由别人代写的。
• I watched a trailer for the screenplay of his memoirs. 我看过以他的回忆录改编成电影的预告片。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 gems   

growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长

参考例句：

• a crown studded with gems 镶有宝石的皇冠
• The apt citations and poetic gems have adorned his speeches. 贴切的引语和珠玑般的诗句为他的演说词增添文采。

10 facets   

n.（宝石或首饰的）小平面( facet的名词复数 )；（事物的）面；方面

参考例句：

• The question had many facets. 这个问题是多方面的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A fully cut brilliant diamond has 68 facets. 经过充分切刻的光彩夺目的钻石有68个小平面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

12 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

13 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

14 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

15 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

16 feminist   

adj.主张男女平等的，女权主义的

参考例句：

• She followed the feminist movement.她支持女权运动。
• From then on,feminist studies on literature boomed.从那时起，男女平等受教育的现象开始迅速兴起。