美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Imperial Wife' Trains Its Spotlight On Powerful Women, Past And Present

'Imperial Wife' Trains Its Spotlight¹ On Powerful Women, Past And Present

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Irina Reyn's new novel is about two marriages. It's a dual² narrative³. One marriage takes place in the present day and the other in imperial Russia, the story of a young Catherine the Great. You'd think that the marriage that takes place in contemporary New York is the modern one, but we could all learn a little something from Catherine the Great. The book is called "The Imperial Wife," and the modern woman is Tanya Kagan. She's a woman many of us would admire. She's a bright, confident Russian immigrant and an expert in Russian art working at a high-end auction⁴ house in Manhattan. She's about to go into the biggest auction of her career, a bidding war over a glorious medal worn on a sash by Catherine the Great herself.

IRINA REYN: This is going to be a big deal for her. She's very excited about this. But unfortunately, on the home front, her husband suddenly ups and leaves her without really telling her what's going on. So she's sort of torn between this exciting place in her life career-wise and also this frightening and unknown place with her husband. And then, in the Catherine the Great section, I was really interested in Catherine as a young woman. It begins when she first arrives to Russia from Prussia, when she's 14, almost 15 years old, in 1744, and she's coming to marry the grand duke and hopefully become the mother of his children. But there's some trepidation⁵ there because the one time that she's met Peter, he was not so promising⁶ (laughter), let's put it that way.

CHANG: What do you mean by that?

REYN: He was very awkward, very sort of unfortunately shaped, kind of unattractive to her, not particularly tactful as a dignitary in royal affairs. So she's a little bit worried about how this is all going to go.

CHANG: So essentially⁷ the book is comparing the marriages of two women. So I want to talk a little bit about Tanya and her husband, Carl. You know, Tanya is this assertive⁸, ambitious, decisive woman and Carl is not so much. I mean, he's aware of their differences when they get married, but those differences come into greater relief as time goes on, don't they?

REYN: Yes. I think it was very important to me that part of their differences had to do with the kind of - their kind of ways they had to work for in this country. So Carl is someone who is almost a Mayflower descendant. You know, he comes by Americanness in the most native of ways. And Tanya is an immigrant from the former Soviet⁹ Union, from Moscow, and someone who had always been pressing her face against the glass of Americanness. So her ambition is very much fueled by her background, and Carl was someone who had it a little bit easier. And this is something that she both admires about him but also something that is very frustrating¹⁰ for her from time to time.

CHANG: There's a moment around the time when they got engaged when Tanya's family teases her. And I was wondering, can you read a little from that part?

REYN: OK.

CHANG: Maybe you can start with the quote where, I think, her cousin - yeah, Mitya is saying, watch out, Carl.

REYN: (Reading) Watch out, Carl. Hope you know you're dating the CEO over there, a cousin named Mitya calls out. That Tanya always ordered us around, even when she was a little girl. Inevitably¹¹, my mother arrives to the rescue. Don't say that, Mitya, afraid that the suitor will be scared off. No man wants a daunting¹² woman. No man wants a woman who earns more than him. No man wants a woman who is too opinionated. No man wants a woman who values career over family. No man wants a woman who is vocal¹³ about being confident, who makes the first move, who picks the date activity, who makes a reservation, who has male friends, who does not greet him in full makeup¹⁴, who serves her own food first, who drives while he's in the passenger seat, who doesn't cook, fails to forgive. Women are very particular things here.

CHANG: I have to say, I've gotten a version of that speech from my own Chinese parents.

(LAUGHTER)

REYN: Well, you know, Russian culture is fairly patriarchal. And I think one of the difficult things for someone who's a young immigrant is really trying to navigate¹⁵ her parents' culture and the culture that she finds herself in, American culture. And it's usually, I think, very difficult.

CHANG: Of course, going back to Catherine the Great, there's something almost more modern about Catherine than Tanya, right? I mean, 'cause Catherine ends up taking on lovers all over the place. She does give birth but not to Peter's kids.

REYN: Right.

CHANG: She rejects the expectations of marriage in a certain way while Tanya, I feel like she still really wants, really needs her husband's approval.

REYN: Yes, which is very ironic¹⁶, isn't it?

CHANG: Yeah.

REYN: Three hundred years later that, you know, we're sort of in a more conservative place. I mean, the reason I was conceiving of this Catherine the Great story, I was - it was in 2008, after my first book came out, and I was just watching Hillary Rodham Clinton and her bid for the Democratic nomination¹⁷. And I have to say, I was reading Catherine the Great's memoirs¹⁸ and I was thinking, my goodness, you know, the way that we talk about Hillary Rodham Clinton is not so different. Like, have we really come that far in 300 years? And just thinking about the distrust and threat of the powerful woman was something that really just spurned¹⁹ the first sort of germs of this book.

CHANG: In the book, throughout the story, we know that something unspeakable had happened between Tanya and Carl. And we don't find out what that is until the very last few pages of the book. And I'm not going to give anything away, but what transpired²⁰ between them, essentially, was about Tanya, in the way she knew how, trying to elevate Carl. And yet, that was what was so cataclysmic between the two. Do you think that, in a marriage, when a woman is more capable or stronger than her husband that she still needs to make an effort to protect the ego²¹ of her husband?

REYN: Well, it's certainly hard to speak about this globally. And I think that that's why, in the book, I made her an immigrant because, well, you know, I can't speak for how this would work with women who are even more American than I am, born here. But I just knew that protecting male egos²² is something that is very much ingrained in a patriarchal culture. There's something to be, you know, thought about evening out the power structure a little bit more. And interestingly enough, in the Catherine the Great section, she doesn't really do that (laughter).

CHANG: No. I mean, she ultimately grabs power away from her husband through a coup²³.

(LAUGHTER)

REYN: Exactly. She, you know, she does away with that problem. But, you know, these are just - these are women facing sort of similar situations in their marriages, you know? But I think they're so much more competent than the men around them, and yet it is the men that are being handed all these opportunities, whether they're worthy²⁴ of them or not. And I think that these two women are dealing²⁵ with that issue in their own way.

CHANG: So who's the role model here? Is it Tanya or Catherine the Great?

REYN: I don't think I could write fiction with the idea of a role model. I think that they're both women that are so much of their own time, they're grappling with having these strengths, these innate²⁶ strengths that they have. And what I found really fascinating about Catherine is when I realized, wait a minute, she's kind of an immigrant like me. She came at 14 years old. I came when I was 7. She's also had to sort of assimilate in this new culture and learn a new language, a new religion. Of course, I only had to learn a new language and make friends at school. She had bigger problems.

But sometimes being an immigrant means you have to tap into certain kind of strengths, and that's where I thought that the parallels between the two women lay for me, that they were both women who had these innate strengths and partly because they had to overcome these obstacles of coming to this new place and adjusting, and more than adjusting, flourishing.

CHANG: Irina Reyn - her book is called "The Imperial Wife." Thank you so much for joining us, Irina.

REYN: Thank you. It was such a pleasure to talk to you.

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 dual   

adj.双的；二重的，二元的

参考例句：

• The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
• He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。

3 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

4 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

5 trepidation   

n.惊恐，惶恐

参考例句：

• The men set off in fear and trepidation.这群人惊慌失措地出发了。
• The threat of an epidemic caused great alarm and trepidation.流行病猖獗因而人心惶惶。

6 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 assertive   

adj.果断的，自信的，有冲劲的

参考例句：

• She always speaks an assertive tone.她总是以果断的语气说话。
• China appears to have become more assertive in the waters off its coastline over recent years.在近些年，中国显示出对远方海洋的自信。

9 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

10 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

12 daunting   

adj.使人畏缩的

参考例句：

• They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
• Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。

13 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

14 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

15 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

16 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。

17 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

18 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》

19 spurned   

v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Eve spurned Mark's invitation. 伊夫一口回绝了马克的邀请。
• With Mrs. Reed, I remember my best was always spurned with scorn. 对里德太太呢，我记得我的最大努力总是遭到唾弃。 来自辞典例句

20 transpired   

（事实，秘密等）被人知道( transpire的过去式和过去分词 )； 泄露； 显露； 发生

参考例句：

• It transpired that the gang had had a contact inside the bank. 据报这伙歹徒在银行里有内应。
• It later transpired that he hadn't been telling the truth. 他当时没说真话，这在后来显露出来了。

21 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。

22 egos   

自我，自尊，自负( ego的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Their egos are so easily bruised. 他们的自尊心很容易受到伤害。
• The belief in it issues from the puerile egos of inferior men. 这种信仰是下等人幼稚的自私意识中产生的。

23 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

24 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

25 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

26 innate   

adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的

参考例句：

• You obviously have an innate talent for music.你显然有天生的音乐才能。
• Correct ideas are not innate in the mind.人的正确思想不是自己头脑中固有的。