美国国家公共电台 NPR--Kwame Alexander's new book about slavery is 'Door of No Return'

Kwame Alexander's new book about slavery is 'Door of No Return'

Transcript¹

NPR's Rachel Martin speaks to Morning Edition's poet-in-resident Kwame Alexander about his new Young Adult book: The Door of No Return.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

You know our next guest well. Kwame Alexander is MORNING EDITION's poet-in-residence. Kwame has written a new book, a young adult novel that is filled with hope, resilience, anger and love. It's called "The Door Of No Return," and it's about a young boy named Kofi growing up in Ghana in the year 1860. Kwame told me this book was the hardest that he's ever written, and what helped frame the story was an unexpected connection that he made.

KWAME ALEXANDER: I remember having this revelation that I think the blues² - that music comes from African's - from Black people's sort of understanding and relationship to the water and how it has been, you know, tragic³ and triumphant⁴ for us. And so I wanted to write a story about the beauty and the joy and my love of the water. And so I chose this boy, Kofi, who's 11 years old, who's a swimmer in 1860, and he loves the water.

MARTIN: Yeah.

ALEXANDER: And I wanted to show that - sort of his journey in the water and how it took him from sort of wonder to woe⁵.

MARTIN: The book is called "The Door Of No Return." I mean, this is a place.

ALEXANDER: Yeah.

MARTIN: This is a specific place in Ghana, right?

ALEXANDER: I often say that the way Americans - the way that human beings in general view the history of Black people is through the lens of 1619 and through, you know, sort of how we got to the Americas, how we were stolen from Africa and how we got here. And that's necessary, and that's important, and we got to learn about it. But that's not the beginning of our story. You know, that's the middle, as it were. And so "The Door Of No Return" is sort of how we got to that middle. I wanted to write a story about the true beginning before, you know, we became, as it were, enslaved. Like, to me, that is definitely important but it's not the only thing, and it's certainly not the first thing.

MARTIN: In your travels, though, did you stand on those pavement stones? I mean, the door of no return refers to the port for the slave trade. And many African Americans go back there on a sort of pilgrimage and look through that tunnel and look at the ocean. Did you do that?

ALEXANDER: I did. The door of no return is both metaphor⁶ and literal. And the actual place exists, whether it be in Senegal or Nigeria or in - in my experience, it was Ghana. And I went to what was called Cape⁷ Coast Castle. And it was this dungeon⁸ that was built by, you know, Europeans, by the Portuguese⁹. And it was a holding cell - a fort, a prison - to hold Africans as they prepared to steal them to transport them to this, quote, "new world." And so, yeah, I stood there in the castle. I did the tour. And it's just such an emotional - a powerful, emotional and tragic experience. And I remember walking through this door where the Africans were marched through as they prepared to take them down to the water, to put them in canoes to these big wooden machines, which we know now as slave ships. And so that big door that the Africans were marched through, that door, you know, is called the door of no return because once you walk through it, you are never - you're never coming back. And so yeah, I walked through that door. And I turned around, and I think writing this book is a part of me coming back through the door.

MARTIN: Right. What's beautiful about this story is how it unfolds. We are just in this kid's life, and he could be any kid. We become emotionally invested in him because he's going about his life all those many years ago but preoccupied¹⁰ with the things that kids are preoccupied with - right? - he's got a cousin who's sort of a bully¹¹. He's got a crush on a girl. He's got pressure from teachers at school.

ALEXANDER: Exactly. And that was my whole sort of point - is that we can't begin to be, you know, empathetic and connected with each other until we understand each other. And we can't understand each other until we acknowledge each other. And so I really wanted to help people acknowledge, you know, the humanity of this kid as sort of a first step in this reckoning of each other's humanity.

MARTIN: Could you read a bit? And I'm thinking - it's a passage near the end, and it's called "Terror."

ALEXANDER: (Reading) On the other side of the door is the edge of the mighty¹² blue that Nana Mosi has talked about, that I have dreamed of - a body of water so awesome¹³ and large it could breathe a million clouds, drag the moon across its gigantic waves. But this is not a dream I am trying to climb out of. This roaring blue is an angry nightmare. It is a monstrous¹⁴ mouth. And it is wide enough to swallow us whole.

I am talking about something that is really heavy and weighty and hard to write about. And so I'm always using my daughter, Samayah, as sort of, you know, my true north in the sense that, well, how can I write this in a way that is going to be palatable¹⁵ and digestible and not totally destroy her? And so poetry becomes this way, you know, to distill¹⁶ the wholeness of the human condition in a way that's - you know, it's a couplet. It's two lines and a stanza¹⁷. It's concise¹⁸. It's rhythmic¹⁹. I've got a sort of rhythm going. And it sort of allows us to enter Kofi's journey in a way that isn't intimidating²⁰, isn't too hard...

MARTIN: Yeah.

ALEXANDER: ...Isn't too harsh - and that hopefully, when you read "The Door Of No Return," that you will come away being changed in some small, if not significant, way to begin to view me, to begin to view other people who may not look like you or go to church like you or eat the same foods you eat and the same humanity that you view the people that you sleep in the same house with, that you go to church with.

MARTIN: The book is called "The Door Of No Return." It's a young adult novel. We all need this book, though. All of us need this book. Kwame Alexander, MORNING EDITION poet-in-residence, thank you for talking with me.

ALEXANDER: Thank you, Rachel.

(SOUNDBITE OF ALI FARKA TOURE AND TOUMANI DIABATE'S "SOUMBOU YA YA")

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 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

3 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

4 triumphant   

adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的

参考例句：

• The army made a triumphant entry into the enemy's capital.部队胜利地进入了敌方首都。
• There was a positively triumphant note in her voice.她的声音里带有一种极为得意的语气。

5 woe   

n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌

参考例句：

• Our two peoples are brothers sharing weal and woe.我们两国人民是患难与共的兄弟。
• A man is well or woe as he thinks himself so.自认祸是祸，自认福是福。

6 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

7 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

8 dungeon   

n.地牢，土牢

参考例句：

• They were driven into a dark dungeon.他们被人驱赶进入一个黑暗的地牢。
• He was just set free from a dungeon a few days ago.几天前，他刚从土牢里被放出来。

9 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

10 preoccupied   

adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式)

参考例句：

• He was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice anything wrong. 他只顾想着心事，没注意到有什么不对。
• The question of going to the Mount Tai preoccupied his mind. 去游泰山的问题盘踞在他心头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 bully   

n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮

参考例句：

• A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。

12 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

13 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

14 monstrous   

adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的

参考例句：

• The smoke began to whirl and grew into a monstrous column.浓烟开始盘旋上升，形成了一个巨大的烟柱。
• Your behaviour in class is monstrous!你在课堂上的行为真是丢人！

15 palatable   

adj.可口的，美味的；惬意的

参考例句：

• The truth is not always very palatable.事实真相并非尽如人意。
• This wine is palatable and not very expensive.这种酒味道不错，价钱也不算贵。

16 distill   

vt.蒸馏，用蒸馏法提取，吸取，提炼

参考例句：

• This standard set determine the method of petroleum products distill.本标准规定了测定石油产品蒸馏的方法。
• Distill the crucial points of the book.从书中提炼出关键的几点。

17 stanza   

n.（诗）节，段

参考例句：

• We omitted to sing the second stanza.我们漏唱了第二节。
• One young reporter wrote a review with a stanza that contained some offensive content.一个年轻的记者就歌词中包含有攻击性内容的一节写了评论。

18 concise   

adj.简洁的，简明的

参考例句：

• The explanation in this dictionary is concise and to the point.这部词典里的释义简明扼要。
• I gave a concise answer about this.我对于此事给了一个简要的答复。

19 rhythmic   

adj.有节奏的，有韵律的

参考例句：

• Her breathing became more rhythmic.她的呼吸变得更有规律了。
• Good breathing is slow,rhythmic and deep.健康的呼吸方式缓慢深沉而有节奏。

20 intimidating   

vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词)

参考例句：

• They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them. 他们被控胁迫选民投他们的票。
• This kind of questioning can be very intimidating to children. 这种问话的方式可能让孩子们非常害怕。