美国国家公共电台 NPR Amy Tan Revisits The Roots Of Her Writing Career In 'Where The Past Begins'

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Amy Tan is best known for her novels that focus on mother-daughter relationships and Chinese-American culture. Her most famous of course is "The Joy Luck Club." Her latest book, "Where The Past Begins," is what she calls a writer's memoir¹. In it, Tan looks into the past to uncover the sources of her own creativity. And as she tells NPR's Lynn Neary, by doing this, she got a deeper understanding of what made her a writer in the first place.

LYNN NEARY, BYLINE²: Amy Tan loves classical music and jazz. In the middle of Tan's New York living room filled with a lush and eclectic mix of furniture and fabric³ sits her grand piano - a Steinway, she proudly tells me.

AMY TAN: It was my life's dream to get a Steinway.

NEARY: She likes to play it when no one is around to listen.

If you want to play it, you're welcome to (laughter).

TAN: No, I'm not going to play for you.

NEARY: When Tan listens to a piece of music, she imagines stories to go with it. So she always listens while she writes.

(SOUNDBITE OF PERFORMANCE OF RACHMANINOFF'S "CONCERTO⁴ NO. 3 IN D MINOR⁵")

NEARY: For this book, she chose Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 3 in D minor.

(SOUNDBITE OF PERFORMANCE OF RACHMANINOFF'S "CONCERTO NO. 3 IN D MINOR")

NEARY: It's a piece of music Tan says she used to hate.

TAN: Then I thought, you're crazy not to love this music. This is my mother. This is my life. This is (laughter) - these are the moods. This is where I went. This is me as a young woman.

(SOUNDBITE OF PERFORMANCE OF RACHMANINOFF'S "CONCERTO NO. 3 IN D MINOR")

NEARY: As much as she loves music now, Tan hated it growing up. She had to practice piano every day, and she felt burdened by her parents' expectations. They wanted her to be a concert pianist, if not a doctor.

TAN: And even to this day, I realize that some of these expectations - you know, becoming a doctor, becoming a pianist - led to - in part to be a writer. I wanted to be just myself, and I was inside. And that private, little place that I was was the writer.

NEARY: Working on this book, Tan discovered that some of those expectations were based on a false premise⁶ - a test that, according to her parents, indicated she had a very high IQ.

TAN: And I had a feeling that I wasn't really that smart, that the test had made a mistake. And yet there was this expectation. So I grew up feeling very - that I was a fraud.

NEARY: Looking into it, Tan found out the test had nothing to do with her IQ. She had just been part of a study on early readers. It was one of a number of revelations she uncovered while delving⁷ into a treasure trove⁸ of family papers.

TAN: Let me just get a few of these things out.

NEARY: Tan sifted⁹ through boxes of documents, letters and photographs, all of it meticulously¹⁰ preserved.

TAN: This is - let's see.

NEARY: Sometimes they contained startling information about her family, especially her parents.

TAN: And this was for their application for renewing a visa or something that would enable them to stay in the United States. So that was something else I discovered. They were illegal.

NEARY: The collection raised a lot of questions about Tan's family history both in this country and in China. It made her think about how the past can be transformed into a work of fiction.

TAN: As I looked at these things, whether they were documents or photos, these emotions came up. And I realized if I took those emotions, I could write a story about them. It's the combination about the emotions that came up and the confusion, the misunderstanding and the discovery of the lies, the variations. That's where you find stories.

NEARY: As tan explored the connection between memory and creativity, she realized not only can memories inspire a story, but writing can trigger memories. This prompted her to write down the details of a day when her mother threatened to commit suicide. Such experiences, Tan says, made her the writer she is.

TAN: When you're a child dealing¹¹ with uncertainty¹² and the moods of a mother who might kill herself, you observe what's going on. So I don't know whether I would have been observant of people's intentions, their emotions, pretenses¹³, their secret desires. I certainly think that the bad experiences - definitely the bad experiences in my life shaped me as a writer.

NEARY: Tan's deep dive into her past has made her wonder if her future writing will be affected¹⁴ by the experience.

TAN: Will my stories become darker? Will they be more emotionally intense? Or will I have a better understanding of myself that would enable me to write a different kind of story?

NEARY: Tan says some people may think her work is all about family or the immigrant experience. But really, she says, her stories are about emotional identity and how you become who you are. Lynn Neary, NPR News, Washington.

1 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

4 concerto   

n.协奏曲

参考例句：

• The piano concerto was well rendered.钢琴协奏曲演奏得很好。
• The concert ended with a Mozart violin concerto.音乐会在莫扎特的小提琴协奏曲中结束。

5 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

6 premise   

n.前提；v.提论，预述

参考例句：

• Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
• We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。

7 delving   

v.深入探究，钻研( delve的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He has been delving into the American literature of 20th century. 他一直在潜心研究美国20世纪文学。 来自互联网
• In some ways studying Beckett is like delving into Shakespeare's words. 在某些方面，研究Beckett的戯好像是深入研究莎士比亚的语句。 来自互联网

8 trove   

n.被发现的东西，收藏的东西

参考例句：

• He assembled a rich trove of Chinese porcelain.他收集了一批中国瓷器。
• The gallery is a treasure trove of medieval art.这个画廊是中世纪艺术的宝库。

9 sifted   

v.筛( sift的过去式和过去分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审

参考例句：

• She sifted through her papers to find the lost letter. 她仔细在文件中寻找那封丢失的信。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She sifted thistles through her thistle-sifter. 她用蓟筛筛蓟。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 meticulously   

adv.过细地，异常细致地；无微不至；精心

参考例句：

• The hammer's silvery head was etched with holy runs and its haft was meticulously wrapped in blue leather. 锤子头是纯银制成的，雕刻着神圣符文，而握柄则被精心地包裹在蓝色的皮革中。 来自辞典例句
• She is always meticulously accurate in punctuation and spelling. 她的标点和拼写总是非常精确。 来自辞典例句

11 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。

12 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

13 pretenses   

n.借口（pretense的复数形式）

参考例句：

• They obtained money under the false pretenses of patriotism. 他们以虚伪的爱国主义为借口获得金钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He obtained money from her under false pretenses. 他巧立名目从她那儿骗钱。 来自辞典例句

14 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。