美国国家公共电台 NPR Mystery Of A Massive Library Fire Remains Unsolved After More Than 30 Years

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Susan Orlean's new book is like an amble¹ through the rooms and stacks of a library, where something unexpected and interesting can be discovered on any page. The library book begins with a fire in April 1986 that destroyed or damaged more than a million books at the Los Angeles Central Library. NPR covered the blaze. Here's Captain Tony DiDomenico of the LA Fire Department.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

TONY DIDOMENICO: When you have those books, the papers so tightly compressed that once it starts burning, it burns with a tremendous amount of heat.

SIMON: Susan Orlean uses the loss and lore² of that fire to tell us the living, everyday story of a great civic³ institution that's becoming, in a digital age, maybe even more vital. Susan Orlean, author of best-sellers that include "The Orchid⁴ Thief," joins us. Thanks so much for being with us.

SUSAN ORLEAN: Thank you for having me.

SIMON: Help us understand how extensive this fire was.

ORLEAN: The fire burned for seven hours. It reached temperatures of 2,500 degrees. It was, at one point, looked at as possibly an unstoppable fire. It was so hot. A lot of firefighters who I interviewed said it was by far the most challenging, frightening fire that they've ever confronted in their careers. Until very recently, it was the largest structural⁵ fire in the history of Los Angeles.

SIMON: The fire reminded you - I guess, a phrase that the many Senegalese have for death.

ORLEAN: It was an incredible phrase, which is, when someone dies, a library burns down, meaning the person's own host of memories and stories and anecdotes⁶ that we store in our minds disappears when someone dies. And it struck me as being a wonderful way of seeing why libraries feel like these big collective brains because they have the memories and stories of a whole culture inside them.

SIMON: We mentioned the more than a million books destroyed or damaged in Los Angeles. But you're also staggered to read in your book how much stuff there is in a great urban library - just stuff. What were some of the items lost in LA?

ORLEAN: Among the things that were lost in the fire, the library had every automobile⁷ manual for every make and model of car, starting with the Model T. Those all disappeared. Patents - the Gazette's recording⁸ all of the patents in the United States and Canada - those were all lost and artifacts like puppets from a famous puppet theater that existed in the '40s and '50s. People look at libraries as being these repositories of, I guess, what you would just say are the flotsam and jetsam of thinking and storytelling. And those end up in libraries.

SIMON: And to be sure, there was a human cost to the employees of the Los Angeles Public Library for the seven years it had been burned and was closed, wasn't there?

ORLEAN: It was devastating⁹. This was the life's work of these librarians. We think of libraries as just somehow getting books, but it doesn't work like that. Librarians build the collection of their department. They choose the books from their own interests and knowledge. And when those disappear, you don't just go and click a button and replace them all. I mean, many of them are books that can't be found anymore.

So for these librarians, it was absolutely devastating to see the books destroyed. What I thought was really interesting is many of them suffered terrible anxiety and depression over the idea that they were no longer serving their patrons. And they - the city hired a psychologist to meet with the librarians because they really were traumatized.

SIMON: Investigators¹⁰ began to suspect arson¹¹ and suspicions began to fall around a man named Harry¹² Peak. With respect for Los Angeles, he struck me as a real LA figure.

ORLEAN: He really is, or I should say, was. He was a young man - good looking, blond, tall and inevitably¹³, began dreaming that he would someday be an actor because if you live anywhere within the magnetic pull of Los Angeles, that comes to mind. He came to the city with no training as an actor. And in fact, he discovered he had stage fright. Sometimes, I think what he really dreamed of was not acting¹⁴ but living the way actors live, or at least in his imagination, having a glamorous¹⁵ life, having everything in your life just be larger than life.

SIMON: How many different versions of events did he eventually supply about his whereabouts that day and his actions?

ORLEAN: He had seven alibis¹⁶, which is not necessarily recommended if you're...

SIMON: (Laughter).

ORLEAN: ...Trying to have (laughter) - if you're trying to convince people that you didn't commit a crime, it's usually good to stick with one.

SIMON: But they never could prosecute¹⁷ him, could they?

ORLEAN: He was arrested, but they never indicted¹⁸ him. But the story ended up getting very complicated because many people in the city and many, many firefighters were absolutely convinced that he had started the fire.

SIMON: You take us into the workings of the library today. And in this interconnected digital age, doesn't everybody have a library at their fingertips?

ORLEAN: Everybody has information at their fingertips, but a library also is a place. I think what I began to realize was that the emotions I felt about a library were partly because, oh, it's so exciting. There's so much great stuff here. But some of it was being in a place that I share with other people, and we're all looking for whatever it is that we're interested in at that moment. And there's something wonderful about that. There's also a lot of stuff that is not online. And that is going to remain true probably for eternity¹⁹.

SIMON: And it's the original co-working space, too.

ORLEAN: That was the (laughter) - one of the things that I realized. There was a period of time when I was working on the book and I just couldn't work at home anymore, so I rented space in a co-working space. And then one day, I thought, I could do the same thing at the library and not pay. So I cancelled my lease and finished the book, working at the library.

SIMON: Susan Orlean - her new book, "The Library Book" - thanks so much for being with us.

ORLEAN: Thank you so much for having me.

1 amble   

vi.缓行，漫步

参考例句：

• The horse is walking at an amble.这匹马正在溜蹄行走。
• Every evening,they amble along the bank. 每天晚上，他们都沿着江边悠闲地散步。

2 lore   

n.传说；学问，经验，知识

参考例句：

• I will seek and question him of his lore.我倒要找上他，向他讨教他的渊博的学问。
• Early peoples passed on plant and animal lore through legend.早期人类通过传说传递有关植物和动物的知识。

3 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

4 orchid   

n.兰花，淡紫色

参考例句：

• The orchid is a class of plant which I have never tried to grow.兰花这类植物我从来没种过。
• There are over 35 000 species of orchid distributed throughout the world.有35,000多种兰花分布在世界各地。

5 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

6 anecdotes   

n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• amusing anecdotes about his brief career as an actor 关于他短暂演员生涯的趣闻逸事
• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman. 他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

8 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

9 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

10 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 arson   

n.纵火，放火

参考例句：

• He was serving a ten spot for arson.他因纵火罪在服十年徒刑。
• He was arraigned on a charge of arson.他因被指控犯纵火罪而被传讯。

12 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

13 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

14 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

15 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

16 alibis   

某人在别处的证据( alibi的名词复数 )； 不在犯罪现场的证人； 借口； 托辞

参考例句：

• The suspects all had alibis for the day of the robbery. 嫌疑人均有证据证明抢劫当天不在犯罪现场。
• I'm not trying to beat your alibis any more than I'm trying to prove 'em. 我并不是不让你辩护，我只是想把那个人找出来。

17 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

18 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

19 eternity   

n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷

参考例句：

• The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
• Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。