美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Here I Am' Balances Domestic Strife And Global Crisis

'Here I Am' Balances Domestic Strife¹ And Global Crisis 

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Jonathan Safran Foer's first novel, "Everything Is Illuminated," dug into his family's history with the Holocaust³. His latest novel explores a different aspect of Judaism. It's called "Here I Am." The title comes from the Bible, the story where God calls on Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. This book is set in present-day Washington, D.C., where a Jewish family goes through a domestic crisis while at the same time, a geopolitical crisis unfolds on the other side of the world.

The novel asks a question that many people wrestle⁴ with - how do we put our daily problems in perspective when real problems all over the world cause death, starvation and destruction? I asked Jonathan Safran Foer to try to answer that question. How do we reconcile our own domestic crises with the truly awful things that are happening thousands of miles away?

JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER: I think that's absolutely right. And conversely, how do we remember to care about the world when the Volvo needs to get inspected or you're going to get a second ticket?

SHAPIRO: Right.

FOER: Like, striking the balance of caring about what happens inside one's home and what happens outside one's home and not accidentally being somebody who doesn't really care about either - it's a struggle. So, you know, this book is about this American family - a middling TV writer and an architect who had these dreams of making great buildings but is now doing bathroom and kitchen renovations - and their marriage and their three children and sort of as you've suggested, their very, very domestic problematic living. You know, sort of the busyness of doing.

On the back burner is this global crisis of an earthquake in the Middle East. And the book is largely about how these characters - and in particular this one character, Jacob Bloch, tries to strike the balance between the different identities that he has and between the different - what he thinks of, what he puts in the terms of big and small, you know, lives he's living.

SHAPIRO: There's just one line that really distills this for me very early in the book where a character is shopping at a very upscale hardware store. She picks up a sort of doorknob and you write, (reading) it was elegant, and it was obnoxious⁶. And in a world where the bodies of Syrian children washed up on beaches, it was unethical, or at least vulgar.

FOER: (Laughter) I hope and I think that that's the kind of stuff of this book, the momentary⁷ pause and reflecting on what kind of life we're living. Those are the central questions, actually, that each character in his or her own way asks - you know, the question of what kind of life am I living? And to what extent is it being determined⁸ by the world around me? Or to what extent is it not responsive enough to the world around me?

SHAPIRO: And I think this is a question that every human being who pays attention wrestles⁹ with on a regular basis. Having spent 600 or so pages exploring these questions, have you come up with an answer for yourself? I mean, you're obviously not right now working at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Syria. You're living your life as an author in New York. How do you go on buying nice doorknobs in a world where the bodies of Syrian children wash up on beaches?

FOER: Well, you know, I don't spend my time buying nice doorknobs. But I spend my time doing something that is probably - whose good is equally unobvious, which is writing stories. And I think about this all the time. For years, I wrote in a cafe in my neighborhood against a huge pane¹⁰ of glass, a big wall of windows. And on the other side often would be sitting a homeless guy. Every day, we would see each other. We were sitting literally¹¹ one foot away from each other, just separated by this pane of glass.

And so the question was begged - you know, why am I doing what I'm doing when I'm a fairly able person? I was fairly well-educated. If I devoted¹² my life to the problem of hunger in my neighborhood I would not solve it, but I would make some kind of dent⁵. It would make - my life would make an impression on that problem. You know, no obstetrician comes home at the end of a week and says, oh god, I delivered 13 babies this week. What's the point? The point is so plainly obvious. The point of telling stories is not obvious.

But the Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert once said that imagination is the instrument of compassion¹³. That, you know, we can learn all kinds of facts about another person, but when we are able to share our imagination with another it evokes¹⁴ compassion in a way that nothing else really does. And a lot of the - what we would call big problems in the world are problems of logistics, they're problems of politics and they're problems of compassion. It's not to say that, you know, sharing stories is going to help, you know, the poor Syrian immigrant. But it's got to be an important part of any kind of society that's going to be wrestling with the big problems.

SHAPIRO: The book explores on many levels what it means to be Jewish. And there's a section where you write about Jews' relationship with words. Will you read this part of the book?

FOER: I would be ever too happy to. (Reading) Judaism has a special relationship with words. Giving a word to a thing is to give it life. Let there be light, God said, and there was light. No magic, no raised hands and thunder. The articulation¹⁵ made it possible. It's perhaps the most powerful of all Jewish ideas - expression is generative. It's the same with marriage. You say I do, and you do.

SHAPIRO: How does this special relationship between Jews and words extend to you as a Jewish writer?

FOER: I don't know. You know, that's the truth. I don't know. One of my favorite sayings, which doesn't refer specifically to writing but feels like it does, is a bird is not an ornithologist¹⁶. Just because you are something, just because you do something doesn't mean that you can explain it or that you intend it. And one of the things that I've been constantly surprised by is the way that Judaism has sort of woven itself through my imagination. I'm not a religious person in the sense of observance, but it definitely was the soil in which my imagination was planted. And apparently¹⁷, it has a kind of irrepressible influence on me.

SHAPIRO: Yeah, I'm sure nobody sets out to be a Jewish writer any more than they would set out to be a gay writer or a Latino writer. And yet it seems looking on your career that you have become a Jewish writer, per se.

FOER: What does the per se mean? (Laughter) I think it's one of those statements that's hard to just say without kind of winking¹⁸ or shrugging or qualifying. That's my instinct as well. There's something about it that is a little itchy. It doesn't feel like a comfortable identity to settle into either because it's unintentional or because it might feel in some way limiting. And the thing that I value most about writing is the way that it is without limitations.

SHAPIRO: In a way, it almost brings me back to the title of the book, "Here I Am," these sort of three declarative syllables¹⁹ that don't go any deeper in describing who you are or where you are or why you are or what you are. Merely a declaration - here I am.

FOER: You know, in a way, it is - it's each hero's - each character, excuse me, in the book's journey, is to what is the meaning of that statement. And the final words of the book - and I don't think I'm spoiling anything to share this - are I'm ready given by the hero, Jacob, in a very peculiar²⁰ context to say those words. And the thing that he is ultimately ready for is to claim an identity, an identity that can be unconditional²¹, that isn't dependent on context but is authentic²².

SHAPIRO: Jonathan Safran Foer, thanks so much for your time.

FOER: Thank you. It was a pleasure.

1 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

2 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

3 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

4 wrestle   

vi.摔跤，角力；搏斗；全力对付

参考例句：

• He taught his little brother how to wrestle.他教他小弟弟如何摔跤。
• We have to wrestle with difficulties.我们必须同困难作斗争。

5 dent   

n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展

参考例句：

• I don't know how it came about but I've got a dent in the rear of my car.我不知道是怎么回事，但我的汽车后部有了一个凹痕。
• That dent is not big enough to be worth hammering out.那个凹陷不大，用不着把它锤平。

6 obnoxious   

adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的

参考例句：

• These fires produce really obnoxious fumes and smoke.这些火炉冒出来的烟气确实很难闻。
• He is the most obnoxious man I know.他是我认识的最可憎的人。

7 momentary   

adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的

参考例句：

• We are in momentary expectation of the arrival of you.我们无时无刻不在盼望你的到来。
• I caught a momentary glimpse of them.我瞥了他们一眼。

8 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

9 wrestles   

v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的第三人称单数 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤

参考例句：

• The book also wrestles with the idea of individualism. 书中也与个人英雄主义的观念进行搏斗。 来自互联网
• He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. 和我们搏斗的人锻炼了我们的勇气，磨练了我们的技能。 来自互联网

10 pane   

n.窗格玻璃，长方块

参考例句：

• He broke this pane of glass.他打破了这块窗玻璃。
• Their breath bloomed the frosty pane.他们呼出的水气，在冰冷的窗玻璃上形成一层雾。

11 literally   

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。

12 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。

13 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

14 evokes   

产生，引起，唤起( evoke的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The film evokes chilling reminders of the war. 这部电影使人们回忆起战争的可怕场景。
• Each type evokes antibodies which protect against the homologous. 每一种类型都能产生抗同种病毒的抗体。

15 articulation   

n.（清楚的）发音；清晰度，咬合

参考例句：

• His articulation is poor.他发音不清楚。
• She spoke with a lazy articulation.她说话慢吞吞的。

16 ornithologist   

n.鸟类学家

参考例句：

• That area is an ornithologist's paradise.那个地区是鸟类学家的天堂。
• Now I know how an ornithologist feels.现在我知道做为一个鸟类学家的感受了。

17 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

18 winking   

n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮

参考例句：

• Anyone can do it; it's as easy as winking. 这谁都办得到，简直易如反掌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The stars were winking in the clear sky. 星星在明亮的天空中闪烁。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 syllables   

n.音节( syllable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a word with two syllables 双音节单词
• 'No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables.' “想不起。不过我可以发誓，它有两个音节。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

20 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

21 unconditional   

adj.无条件的，无限制的，绝对的

参考例句：

• The victorious army demanded unconditional surrender.胜方要求敌人无条件投降。
• My love for all my children is unconditional.我对自己所有孩子的爱都是无条件的。

22 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。