美国国家公共电台 NPR In 'World Of Tomorrow,' A Novelist Found Echoes Of 1939, Today

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

If you're looking to settle in for a long, meaty read as the days get shorter, the new novel "The World Of Tomorrow" is the sprawling¹ story of three Irish brothers and their adventures in an America on the cusp of World War II. And it clocks in at over 500 pages. Along the way, we meet a disgraced heiress to a mining fortune, a couple of up-and-coming jazz musicians in Harlem, a Jewish refugee artist from Czechoslovakia and shady members of the IRA-linked underworld and many others inhabiting both low and high society in New York. This is Brendan Matthews's debut² novel, and he joins us now from New England Public Radio in Springfield, Mass. Good morning.

BRENDAN MATTHEWS: Good morning.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So this tale takes place over a short time. But you pack a lot in. I want you to give us the plot, and I'm going to time you 30 seconds or less. Go (laughter).

MATTHEWS: OK. Actually, it's spread out over a week. And it's the unexpected arrival of two brothers from Ireland, one an escaped convict and one a seminary dropout³. And they end up in the home of their brother, who's a jazz musician in New York City in 1939. And over the course of the week that follows, it describes their collisions and run-ins with other musicians, with a wealthy family of heiresses and with an IRA - former IRA member and mob enforcer who is on the tail of the escapee brother, who has left Ireland with a small fortune that he has liberated⁴, in his view, from an from an IRA safe house right before he left for the States.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah. So much there - it's such a great sort of swashbuckling adventure. As you mentioned, though, the story centers around these three Irish brothers and their links to the IRA. This is a fascinating bit of history. What drew you to that storyline?

MATTHEWS: Well, I grew up in a large Irish Catholic family. My grandfather was an immigrant to the U.S. He came over in 1929. And my family is full of storytellers. Every time we get together, there's lots to be told about the family's life in America and even the cousins back in Ireland. But the period before that, really, was never discussed. Ireland goes through a civil war - a war of independence and then immediately a civil war. And so I wanted to trace through some of that legacy⁵ of revolution, of political violence. You know, I wanted to think about when a revolution becomes something else and when the support of a cause like that morphs into something maybe a little more dangerous.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Let's talk about these three brothers...

MATTHEWS: Sure.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: ...The central characters in this book, specifically Francis. He's sort of the main character. And we meet him, really, in his full regalia, pretending to be a Scottish lord aboard a very fancy boat. What's going on there?

MATTHEWS: Well, Francis is - he's escaped, and he's suddenly found himself in this life that he'd always dreamed of having. He was sort of on the fringes of high society in Dublin. He was a smuggler⁶ who provided luxury goods to the upper crust. And with all this money, he's decided⁷ the best way for him to pass himself off as what he isn't and is to go through what he calls the first-class plan. He's going to act as first class as he knows how, pass himself off as a lord and figures no one will ask any questions. And it works for a long time for him. He's on this fancy ocean liner. And they end up at the Plaza⁸ Hotel in New York. And Francis is - I mean, he's this very charming, roguish figure who keeps raising the stakes. And everything keeps working out for him until about maybe midway through the book. And things start to take a turn for him.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah. He's sort of like the lovable scoundrel, if you will, you know, one of these characters in literature who takes advantage of the situations as they're presented.

MATTHEWS: Yeah. Every Irish family has at least one of those.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: (Laughter). One of the most interesting characters is a man called Tom Cronin. As you mentioned, he's a former hitman for the IRA, but he's left all that behind. He's living in the countryside with a wife and kids. And he's reluctantly dragged back into his old ways.

MATTHEWS: Yeah. I mean, he's - and that's one of the things I think is interesting that I wanted to explore in the book. I mean, what he really was in Ireland is he was a soldier. He was part of this revolution. And so he would see himself as a soldier. But then as the cause changes, the cause he fights for, he comes to the U.S. and ends up working for this mobster who's sort of connected the IRA in other ways. He really can't take on the mantle⁹ of soldier any longer. And he really is an enforcer, a hitman. And he struggles with that, with - when is the violence that he carries with him all the time - when does it feel to him justified¹⁰? And when is it just raw violence?

And he's tried to put all that in his past. He's tried to make this new life for himself. But he finds himself dragged back for a sort of one last job that he has to carry out, he feels, because his family's safety is in question. So one of the things I was really interested in for the book was thinking about the past and how easy it is to shed that - whether second chances are possible, whether redemption is possible, which is something that Cronin desperately¹¹ hopes is the case.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah. I was about to say in your book, America is portrayed¹² as sort of a land of possibility, of redemption, of reinvention. All these characters are sort of shedding themselves and becoming something else.

MATTHEWS: Yeah. I wanted to write a book that was full of immigrants and dreamers and strivers, people who come to America or to New York specifically in pursuit of something. They all want something better, something different. And so the book kind of asks what the cost of those dreams might be.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So all these lives intersect, obviously - all these different lives. Why 1939? Why set it right before World War II.

MATTHEWS: The more I looked into it, it was just such a fascinating year. I mean, there are all these hinged moments in history. But 1939, really, is one of those years where you can say that the world that existed in 1939 would never exist again. The world that comes out of the post-war era is - becomes so fundamentally different than the world that existed before it. But then at the same time, the more I looked into it, I kept seeing all these echoes from '39 that tied into now, you know, America in a seemingly endless economic slump¹³ and a refugee crisis overseas that the United States was trying really hard not to pay attention to, not to get involved in, a rising tide of fascism and support for it both overseas and even in parts of the U.S. but also people who were just trying to get by, you know, people who had dreams, people who wanted a world for themselves that was a little bit better, people who were still striving and trying to make something better.

And that's where the title comes from, "The World Of Tomorrow," because when this book is set, the 1939 World's Fair has just kicked off. And it promises this beautiful, brilliant world of highways and skyscraper¹⁴ cities and orchards¹⁵ held under glass domes¹⁶. And it's right around the corner. There's this beautiful, brilliant world that's right around the corner. And people in New York and in the U.S. really want to see that world come to be. And there's this growing awareness¹⁷ that before they get to that world, there's a real price to be paid - that the war is right there in between the world they know and the world that they want.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Brendan Matthews's novel is "The World Of Tomorrow." Thank you very much.

MATTHEWS: Thanks so much for having me.

1 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

2 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

3 dropout   

n.退学的学生；退学；退出者

参考例句：

• There is a high dropout rate from some college courses.有些大学课程的退出率很高。
• In the long haul,she'll regret having been a school dropout.她终归会后悔不该中途辍学。

4 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。

5 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

6 smuggler   

n.走私者

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight, awaiting extradition to Britain. 这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• The smuggler was finally obliged to inform against his boss. 那个走私犯最后不得不告发他的首领。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 plaza   

n.广场，市场

参考例句：

• They designated the new shopping centre York Plaza.他们给这个新购物中心定名为约克购物中心。
• The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen.这个广场上布满了便衣警察。

9 mantle   

n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红

参考例句：

• The earth had donned her mantle of brightest green.大地披上了苍翠欲滴的绿色斗篷。
• The mountain was covered with a mantle of snow.山上覆盖着一层雪。

10 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

11 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

12 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 slump   

n.暴跌，意气消沉，（土地）下沉；vi.猛然掉落，坍塌，大幅度下跌

参考例句：

• She is in a slump in her career.她处在事业的低谷。
• Economists are forecasting a slump.经济学家们预言将发生经济衰退。

14 skyscraper   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• The skyscraper towers into the clouds.那幢摩天大楼高耸入云。
• The skyscraper was wrapped in fog.摩天楼为雾所笼罩。

15 orchards   

（通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They turned the hills into orchards and plains into granaries. 他们把山坡变成了果园，把平地变成了粮仓。
• Some of the new planted apple orchards have also begun to bear. 有些新开的苹果园也开始结苹果了。

16 domes   

n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 )；像圆屋顶一样的东西；圆顶体育场

参考例句：

• The domes are circular or ovoid in cross-section. 穹丘的横断面为圆形或卵圆形。 来自辞典例句
• Parks. The facilities highlighted in text include sport complexes and fabric domes. 本书重点讲的设施包括运动场所和顶棚式结构。 来自互联网

17 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。