美国国家公共电台 NPR Debut Author Channeled Her 'Darker Bits' Into A Man Booker Shortlist Novel

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Fiona Mozley has already been one of the literary sensations of 2017. The part-time clerk at the Little Apple Bookshop in York was a finalist for this year's Man Booker Prize, with her first novel, "Elmet," named for a hamlet in Yorkshire that was once an old kingdom. Her book has now been published to praise in the United States. Fiona Mozley joins us from the BBC in London. Thanks so much for being with us.

FIONA MOZLEY: Oh, thank you for inviting¹ me.

SIMON: This is a story about Cathy and Daniel, a daughter and a son - their tender love for their father, who loves them tenderly. But he plies² a violent trade. And the phrase you have about their surroundings in Yorkshire - (reading) the soil was ruptured³ with stories that cascaded⁴ and rotten, then found form once more. Boy, how did the story find form with you?

MOZLEY: Yes. Well, I knew that I wanted to write a story set in this part of the world. It's where I grew up. And I was a living away in London at the time, but it was constantly in my thoughts. It's a part of the world that is shrouded⁵ in history, that's informed by its history in the landscape, in the very soil of the place. And there were certain issues I wanted to explore, and then these characters arrived almost fully⁶ formed - Daddy, who's, as you say, the father of the family and a bare-knuckle boxer⁷, and his daughter Cathy. And then, slowly, Daniel, the narrator of the piece - he arrived, as well, as the story began to take form.

SIMON: Tell us what that's like. They arrived. I mean, as you're well aware, forgive me, some people say that, and they get put into institutions.

MOZLEY: Yes. (Laughter). I suppose you're right. I mean, that may follow. But I...

SIMON: (Laughter).

MOZLEY: ...Wanted to explore a masculine archetype. And that's what Daddy is. He is larger than life. He's almost too big to exist. He's straight out of mythology⁸. He's very strong and reassuring⁹, and he sticks by his children, et cetera. But he's also - you know, he's got this troubled streak¹⁰. This sort of - this violence in him. He's entirely¹¹ defined by his body, his physicality, his strength. And Cathy arrived, saying, actually, what happens when these ideals are instilled¹² in someone who doesn't inhabit the right physicality? Or she's somebody who has a very similar temperament¹³ to her father, but she doesn't have his strength. And she's a girl. And how does she stitch together those dual¹⁴ identities?

SIMON: Yeah. There is - not to give too much away, but there's an act of violence in the book in which a woman takes a man's life. She sees it as her only way to survive. And I have to ask if recent events and recent debates and soul searching we've had in both our countries makes the scene even more telling.

MOZLEY: That's a tough question. I don't know about that. I mean, of course, it was all written long before that. But I think I did want to explore this question of, you know, the owning of the human body. You know, if there is somebody whose body is being used or threatened in a way which they don't like, do they have the right to do whatever they can to stop that?

She knew that because she was physically¹⁵ weaker than her assailants, there could be no half measures, she couldn't just pin him to the ground and run away because she wouldn't escape. She couldn't just, you know, incapacitate him in some way. It had to be - she had to go the whole hog¹⁶. A lot of people have been struck by that passage, I think. They - a lot of people said it's unrealistic, which I don't really mind because it's not supposed to be a realistic book. You know, it's a work of fantasy in many respects.

But I do think it's interesting that we can accept that male characters can perform these acts of extraordinary physical prowess all the time. You know, people like Clint Eastwood can be punched in the face a hundred times and still get up for more. But when we sort of see a woman possessing unexpected or fantastical physical strength, it's questioned more.

SIMON: Among the many lines that I wrote down, character says at one point, (reading) we all grow into our coffins¹⁷. And I was going to ask you what that means. But as I ran it through my mind, I think everyone kind of knows what that means.

MOZLEY: Yeah. I mean, that's said by the daughter Cathy, who I mentioned has this...

SIMON: Yeah.

MOZLEY: ...Very troubled relationship with her own physicality. She sees herself growing into the body of a woman. And all the women that she has known in her life have disappeared or washed up kind of injured or - you know, as a society, again, we have this fixation with the murdered female body. You know, it's from Ophelia to - well, going even further back than that, actually. You know, you can find it in Greek tragedy. This image of the very beautiful young woman who is found dead. It's a sort of strange fixation.

And it comes to haunt her. She's terrified when she sees herself growing into a female body that that's going to happen to her. And that's her real tragedy - is that she can't see a way out of that, and she can't see a way of existing outside of that particular framework. It's quite - I don't know. I mean, it's quite bleak¹⁸, I suppose. I'm not sure (laughter). I don't know. I'm quite a jolly person, really. So I guess I channeled all of my (laughter) darker bits into this book.

SIMON: Fiona Mozley - her novel "Elmet." Thanks so much for being with us.

MOZLEY: Thank you for inviting me.

1 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

2 plies   

v.使用（工具）( ply的第三人称单数 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意

参考例句：

• The ship plies between London and Sydney. 这船常航行于伦敦与悉尼之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bus plies from the station to the hotel. 这辆公共汽车往来于车站和旅馆之间。 来自辞典例句

3 ruptured   

v.（使）破裂( rupture的过去式和过去分词 )；（使体内组织等）断裂；使（友好关系）破裂；使绝交

参考例句：

• They reported that the pipeline had ruptured. 他们报告说管道已经破裂了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wall through Berlin was finally ruptured, prefiguring the reunification of Germany. 柏林墙终于倒塌了，预示着德国的重新统一。 来自辞典例句

4 cascaded   

级联的

参考例句：

• His money cascaded away in a couple of years. 他的钱在三两年内便滚滚流失了。
• The water cascaded off the roof in the thunderstorm. 雷雨中水象瀑布一样从屋顶泻下。

5 shrouded   

v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密

参考例句：

• The hills were shrouded in mist . 这些小山被笼罩在薄雾之中。
• The towers were shrouded in mist. 城楼被蒙上薄雾。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 boxer   

n.制箱者，拳击手

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• He moved lightly on his toes like a boxer.他像拳击手一样踮着脚轻盈移动。

8 mythology   

n.神话，神话学，神话集

参考例句：

• In Greek mythology,Zeus was the ruler of Gods and men.在希腊神话中，宙斯是众神和人类的统治者。
• He is the hero of Greek mythology.他是希腊民间传说中的英雄。

9 reassuring   

a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的

参考例句：

• He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 他轻拍了一下她的肩膀让她放心。
• With a reassuring pat on her arm, he left. 他鼓励地拍了拍她的手臂就离开了。

10 streak   

n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动

参考例句：

• The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
• Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹？

11 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

12 instilled   

v.逐渐使某人获得（某种可取的品质），逐步灌输( instill的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Nature has instilled in our minds an insatiable desire to see truth. 自然给我们心灵注入了永无休止的发现真理的欲望。 来自辞典例句
• I instilled the need for kindness into my children. 我不断向孩子们灌输仁慈的必要。 来自辞典例句

13 temperament   

n.气质，性格，性情

参考例句：

• The analysis of what kind of temperament you possess is vital.分析一下你有什么样的气质是十分重要的。
• Success often depends on temperament.成功常常取决于一个人的性格。

14 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。

15 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

16 hog   

n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占

参考例句：

• He is greedy like a hog.他像猪一样贪婪。
• Drivers who hog the road leave no room for other cars.那些占着路面的驾驶员一点余地都不留给其他车辆。

17 coffins   

n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 )；使某人早亡[死，完蛋，垮台等]之物

参考例句：

• The shop was close and hot, and the atmosphere seemed tainted with the smell of coffins. 店堂里相当闷热，空气仿佛被棺木的味儿污染了。 来自辞典例句
• Donate some coffins to the temple, equal to the number of deaths. 到寺庙里，捐赠棺材盒给这些死者吧。 来自电影对白

18 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。