美国国家公共电台 NPR In 1960s New York, Witchy Women Learn 'The Rules Of Magic'

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Two witchy sisters, a family curse¹ on love and lots of potions and hexes. Author Alice Hoffman returns to the story of the Owens family first begun in her book "Practical Magic." You may recall² it was turned into a film with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Now, in "The Rules Of Magic," we go back in time to learn the story of the aunts in that saga³. Alice Hoffman joins us now from WGBH in Boston. Welcome to the program.

ALICE HOFFMAN: Thank you so much.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So why bring the Owens sisters back? Was it popular demand, leftover⁴ material?

HOFFMAN: (Laughter) You know, it was popular demand. But also, I feel like I've been with this family for 20 years, and I've been thinking about (laughter) writing about them, but my choice is always to go backward in time, not forward.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Why?

HOFFMAN: I'm just interested in what makes a family and going back in history to see - you know, I always feel like you can never really know certain people in your family - your mother, your father, your aunts - because you didn't know them when they were young.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Right. Exactly. So this is a prequel to "Practical Magic." We are reintroduced to Frannie (ph) and Jet⁵, the aunts in the first book, and they are teenagers. And there is a brother called Vincent. Can you set the scene for us?

HOFFMAN: Yeah. They live in New York City in the '60s. Well, it starts in the '50s. And then, all of a sudden, everything changes when it becomes 1960. And so it's all of my favorite things together - New York City, magic, the '60s, and sisters.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And they are living in a house together, and they're sort of struggling against the strictures of their life and exploring who they are. And they don't know at the beginning that they might have magical abilities.

HOFFMAN: No, it's a secret. It's a family secret, and it's always a family secret with the Owens family. They want (laughter) to, you know, escape from their history, and they want to escape from who they are. And, really, the book is about finding⁶ out who you really are.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And I want to talk about Vincent because he's new, but he's oh so compelling⁷, sexy, young, a bit of a rebel⁸.

HOFFMAN: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: But I have to ask - Why bring a man into this picture?

HOFFMAN: Well, you know, it just - it wasn't really my choice (laughter), you know? I think, you know, sometimes, you're writing. And all of a sudden, it just happens. And Vincent just arrived with some secrets of his own, which I don't want to divulge⁹ because he didn't know - you know, it's interesting because it's about finding out about yourself. And he didn't know certain things about himself, and I didn't know certain things. So we discovered it together as writer and character.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Really? Is that sort of like, you're there. And all of a sudden, he just popped into your mind as a character, and you just felt compelled¹⁰ to write him?

HOFFMAN: Absolutely. I mean, it was not planned at all. I never knew that they had a brother.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: As you mentioned, this is set in the '60s in New York. Why go back, though, to that time when so much was changing and set your story there?

HOFFMAN: Well, you know, for one thing, I didn't realize that at the time, I always feel like the writer's the last to know pretty much anything. But I really feel there's this kinship between the '60s and right now. And going back in time, I had a lot of the same feelings that I have right now.

I think it's really an important thing to go back and look at the - what we did in the '60s, how the world changed, how it changed for women, how it changed for gays¹¹ and lesbians, how people work to make a change. But for me, you know, that was the time period when I was young. I lived through it, and I actually remember a lot of it. And it's just really - I think it's just an amazing time in our history.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: You grew up in New York around that time?

HOFFMAN: Yeah.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And a lot of the book is set around Greenwich Village. Was that an area that you knew well?

HOFFMAN: Well, you know, I grew up on Long Island. So every Saturday, I took the train. I took the subway and went to Greenwich Village, as did everybody else. So, you know, it's funny when I go back now. Even though it's changed a good deal, I still feel like the same ghosts are there, the same things go on.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: You really do introduce magic so seamlessly into a period and a place that we know so well. What are the challenges, though, of introducing the supernatural into something like that?

HOFFMAN: You know, I think because I grew up in Long Island, I felt like everything around was magical. And it's a funny thing because, you know, every firefly, every tree, everything that wasn't, you know, concrete where I grew up seemed like magic. And I also feel like, you know, what you read as a kid influences you so much, not as...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So much.

HOFFMAN: So much - and especially as a writer. I mean, the books that I loved growing up, whether they were fairy tales or folk tales or - I loved a writer named Edward Eager. He wrote "Suburban¹² Magic." And I loved Ray Bradbury. And that feeling that anything could happen, even in your ordinary neighborhood, really appealed to me...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah.

HOFFMAN: ...As a reader and as a writer.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah. "The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe." I was - yeah, whenever you'd see a wardrobe or a lamppost, it was always like Narnia was just around the corner.

HOFFMAN: (Laughter) Right.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: What draws you to witches in particular as a theme? Your witches, I have to say, have a strong whiff of feminism.

HOFFMAN: Well, you know, I think all witches do.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah.

HOFFMAN: And when I was doing the research about, you know, what had happened during the Salem witch trials, it was very interesting that so many of the women who were arrested, who were persecuted¹³ were either single or they owned real estate¹⁴. They were independent, mostly. They weren't poor. They were women who kind of lived on their own, but they lived on kind of the fringes¹⁵.

And I feel, you know, witches appeal - still appeal - to little girls who dress up for Halloween. There's something about the power and - that witches have - the power and also kind of the knowledge and the storytelling. And I think what a witch is has been really twisted. And witches, really, were healers throughout time.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah. You're right. Witches were difficult to control, for they had minds of their own and didn't hold to keeping to the law. I loved that.

(LAUGHTER)

HOFFMAN: That's true even now.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Even now, indeed. Any more Owens tales in the making? Are we going to go even further back, perhaps to the original Owens?

HOFFMAN: I'd like to sometime. I have to see what happens. If she walks through the door, then I'll follow her.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Alice Hoffman's new book is "The Rules Of Magic." Thank you so very much.

HOFFMAN: Thank you.

1 curse   

n.祸因，祸根；诅咒，咒骂；骂人话

参考例句：

• His wealth proved a curse to him.他的财富成了祸根。
• The rabbits are a curse in this part of the country.兔子在这一带农村是一种祸害。

2 recall   

n.回忆，召回，取消；vt.回想起，召回，与...相似，恢复

参考例句：

• As you may recall, he was in the army then.你可能记得当时他正在从军。
• We demand that you recall your army from our border.我们要求你们撤回在我们边境的部队。

3 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。

4 leftover   

n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的

参考例句：

• These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
• Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。

5 jet   

n.喷气发动机，喷气式飞机；v.喷出，喷射

参考例句：

• Put a match to the jet to light the gas.将火柴放在煤气喷嘴上点燃煤气。
• I don't see the jet of your plan.我不明白你的计划的要点。

6 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。

7 compelling   

v.令人信服的

参考例句：

• Her latest book makes compelling reading. 她新出的书读起来扣人心弦。
• The evidence was so compelling that he felt constrained to accept it. 证据是那样的令人折服，他觉得不得不接受。

8 rebel   

n.叛徒，起义者；vi.造反，反抗，反感；adj.造反的，反抗的，反叛者的

参考例句：

• The rebel army is attempting to subvert the government.反叛军队企图颠覆政府统治。
• The rebel army has readjusted its strategy.叛军已经重新调整了策略。

9 divulge   

v.泄漏(秘密等)；宣布，公布

参考例句：

• They refused to divulge where they had hidden the money.他们拒绝说出他们把钱藏在什么地方。
• He swore never to divulge the secret.他立誓决不泄露秘密。

10 compelled   

adj. 强迫的 动词compel的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The enemy were compelled to lay down their arms. 敌人被迫放下武器。
• He was compelled by illness to suspend his experiment. 他因病不得不暂时中断实验。

11 gays   

同性恋者（尤指男性）( gay的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Gays might be excused for thinking their president was doing the same. 考虑到总统的讲话也与鸭叫相似，同性恋们可以被谅解。
• Several European countries halted extraditions of Iranian gays backcountry following the executions. 一些欧洲国家停止向伊朗引渡将被判处死刑的伊朗同性恋者。

12 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

13 persecuted   

（尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人

参考例句：

• Throughout history, people have been persecuted for their religious beliefs. 人们因宗教信仰而受迫害的情况贯穿了整个历史。
• Members of these sects are ruthlessly persecuted and suppressed. 这些教派的成员遭到了残酷的迫害和镇压。

14 estate   

n.所有地，地产，庄园；住宅区；财产，资产

参考例句：

• My estate lies within a mile.我的地产离那有一英里。
• The great real estate brokers do far more than this.而优秀的房地产经纪人做得可比这多得多。

15 fringes   

（头发的）刘海( fringe的名词复数 )； （外衣，小地毯等的）饰边； 毛边； 边缘

参考例句：

• The woodcutter had a little house on the fringes of the forest. 那位伐木工人在森林的外缘有一间小屋。
• The jacket had leather fringes. 这件夹克有皮流苏。