美国国家公共电台 NPR Author Interview: 'The Private Life Of Mrs. Sharma'

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST: 

Renuka Sharma is not a cheap woman. She'll be the first to tell you that. She is a dutiful wife, a devoted¹ mother and the central character Ratika Kapur's new novel "The Private Life Of Mrs. Sharma." When Renuka meets a man at a train station, she's faced with a question. How long can someone deprive herself of pleasure today because she's always planning for tomorrow? Ratika Kapur joins us from New Delhi to talk about her latest book.

So glad you could be with us.

RATIKA KAPUR: Ah, thank you for having me.

CHANG: So just first tell us about your title character Renuka Sharma, or Renu, as she calls herself. Where is she in her life on the day we meet her?

KAPUR: Renu is about 37 years old. She's a small-town girl. She moves to the big city when she gets married. Her husband is away in Dubai trying to make some money for their future plans, and she's holding fort in Delhi with her in-laws and her 14-year-old son. And Renu was the one who sent her husband to Dubai. What does that tell us about her?

KAPUR: Yeah, that's definitely just one of many signs of her need to fulfill² this middle-class, new Indian dream that she has of, you know, a nice apartment with backup electricity and running water. And she has very, very clear ideas about where she wants her life and the life of her family. She feels that she's sort of trapped in this kind of prison of poverty which she wants to try and break out of. And she will go to any lengths in order to break out of it.

CHANG: I mean, there's no question that Renu's constant sacrifice and planning has led her to lead a very lonely life. She seems unhappy. And one day, she meets a man named Vineet and starts an affair with him. Tell us about Vineet. What is he to her, an escape from duty?

KAPUR: She does say that being with him is like being on holiday because I don't think she's ever had space. I mean, there's just perpetual domestic demands on her. So it's not - I don't think it's simply an affair in sort of conventional terms where, you know, she needs sex or, you know, her husband's not there and there's no one else to sleep with and she needs that kind of physical intimacy³. I'm sure she needs that do, but I think as important would be this ability to just, like, switch off.

CHANG: Yeah. I mean, what was also really interesting watching the affair develop was that Renu still refuses to let go of her self-image as a respectable woman. She rationalizes away any wrongdoing on her part. She even convinces herself that her husband is probably cheating on her, too, in Dubai?

KAPUR: You know, I think there are certain decisions that we make which may not necessarily sit well even with how we think, let alone what the rest of the world thinks. And sometimes, the only way to justify⁴, I think, is through this sort of self-delusion⁵.

CHANG: Yeah.

KAPUR: Look, all of us, in some sense, exercise self-delusion. I mean, you wake up in the morning. I'm not going to think that - yes, in, you know, X number of years, I'm going to be dead because then I probably wouldn't want to get out of bed.

CHANG: (Laughter).

KAPUR: So I mean, there are degrees and degrees of it. Of course, she takes it to one extreme.

CHANG: Perhaps the biggest self-delusion of Renu is that she has this affair under control. I was wondering, could I have you read something?

KAPUR: Absolutely.

(Reading) See, whatever you do - good or bad, right or wrong - it is very, very important to set limits. And I know my limits, and I have set them. I can meet Vineet from time to time, enjoy his mind, enjoy his body. But I'm a good woman. I have a child and a husband and in-laws and a job. And I have duties towards each and every one of these. And I don't like to boast, but the truth is that I've always fulfilled my duties without fail. And I will keep fulfilling my duties until the day that I die.

CHANG: What fascinated me about that passage is that it reads like what women often accuse men of doing when it comes to sex - that men can have sex with no emotional attachment⁶, that men can exit at any time.

KAPUR: Yeah, this is the sort of reversal in that.

CHANG: Exactly. And, you know, maybe this shows my double standards, but it's more jarring when I hear a woman talk like this. Do you think women are expected to talk about sex differently?

KAPUR: Oh, absolutely. But I think she's not doing that to try and assert her, sort of, feminism. She's doing that simply to say that I'm just having fun. But remember - I mean, what's more important is that I'm still a good wife, and I still do my duties. And it's still about her husband and her son and the apartment with the Italian marble and all of that.

CHANG: But you don't think Renu sees any contradiction between her having an affair and being a dutiful wife?

KAPUR: She doesn't allow herself to see that contradiction. Her delusion - her self-delusion allows her to just sort of, you know, overlook this contradiction.

CHANG: Ratika Kapur - her new book is called "The Private Life Of Mrs. Sharma."

Thank you so much for being with us.

KAPUR: Thank you. Thank you.

1 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

2 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

3 intimacy   

n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行

参考例句：

• His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切，这有点言过其实。
• I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。

4 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

5 delusion   

n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑

参考例句：

• He is under the delusion that he is Napoleon.他患了妄想症，认为自己是拿破仑。
• I was under the delusion that he intended to marry me.我误认为他要娶我。

6 attachment   

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。