美国国家公共电台 NPR Denis Johnson's Final Collection Of Short Stories Is Published

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Denis Johnson was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction twice. He won the National Book Award for his 2007 novel, "Tree Of Smoke." He's probably best known for his first collection of short stories, "Jesus' Son," as a semi-autobiographical collection inspired by Johnson's own struggles with drugs and alcohol. He died last spring, but a much anticipated new collection of stories has just been published. Tom Vitale tells us more about the collection.

TOM VITALE, BYLINE¹: The title story of "The Largesse² Of The Sea Maiden³" opens with a provocative⁴ image - a veteran of the war in Afghanistan is at a dinner party. Asked what was the quietest sound he ever heard. He says it was the landmine⁵ that took off one of his legs. Then another guest asks if she can see the stump⁶. He says only if you kiss it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DENIS JOHNSON: Oh, well. OK, she said.

VITALE: Denis Johnson read the scene at Cornell University two years ago.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOHNSON: And detached his prosthesis, a device of chromium bars and plastic belts strapped⁷ to his knee, which was intact, and swiveled upward horribly to present the puckered⁸ end of his leg. Deirdre got down on her bare knees before him, and he hitched⁹ forward in his seat to move the scarred stump within two inches of Deirdre's face. Now she started to cry.

CHRISTIAN¹⁰ LORENTZEN: It's a piece of fiction of rare economy and power.

VITALE: Christian Lorentzen is the book critic for New York Magazine. He says Johnson's fiction is not so much about the psychological development of his characters as it is about the style of his writing.

LORENTZEN: And particularly the emphasis on voice and image over psychology¹¹ makes him a very poetic¹² writer of prose fiction.

VITALE: Denis Johnson started out as a poet, publishing his first collection of verse in 1969 when he was a 19-year-old undergraduate at the University of Iowa. Twenty-three years later, he told NPR member station KCRW that the writer who most influences fiction was a poet.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

JOHNSON: Walt Whitman is definitely one of the people that I really admire. I mean, just for the largeness of his heart and the breadth and grandness of his vision. And he seemed to have the language to accommodate that.

VITALE: For most of his 20s, Johnson's own talent for language was stifled¹³ by drugs and alcohol, but by his mid-30s, he was clean and sober. In 1992, he published a book of autobiographical sketches¹⁴ about his drug-addled youth. "Jesus' Son" was hailed by critics and won a cult¹⁵ following. In 1999, it was adapted into a film. The cast included Michael Shannon playing a 21-year-old junkie with no moral compass.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "JESUS' SON")

MICHAEL SHANNON: (As Dundun) McInnes isn't feeling too good today.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Maybe I'll come back later.

SHANNON: (As Dundun) Don't worry. I just shot him.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) You mean you killed him.

SHANNON: (As Dundun) I didn't mean to.

VITALE: Shannon met Dennis Johnson on the set of "Jesus' Son" and remained friends with him until the author's death.

SHANNON: He had a deep sensitivity for people, for life. I think like a lot of artists that I admire, he found life somewhat overwhelming. And I remember his courage. You know, when he's writing these things, he's drawing from personal experience.

VITALE: Johnson could also be very funny. In a story called "Triumph Over The Grave," the narrator remembers going to the orthopedist for his bum¹⁶ knee while tripping on LSD.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOHNSON: The head of orthopedics approached me. He was either a large, almost gigantic person or a person who only seemed gigantic under the circumstances.

(LAUGHTER)

JOHNSON: He gripped my flesh with his seething¹⁷ monster hands and delivered a lecture while he manipulated my lower leg and fondled the joint¹⁸ in preparation, I felt pretty sure, of eating me.

VITALE: In 1992, Denis Johnson said that one of his models for writing was Joseph Conrad, whose goal was to tell a story without judging the characters.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOHNSON: He says what I want you to do is to see. If you can get the light shining out from it, then it doesn't matter how ugly it is on the surface. There's something going on underneath¹⁹ it if we can see it. It's the truth underlying²⁰ everything, and it is the language that gets at that. I mean, it's the language that illuminates²¹ what we're seeing.

VITALE: Denis Johnson's story "Triumph Over The Grave" ends with this language. Quote, "it's plain to you at the time I write this I'm not dead but maybe by the time you read it." Johnson died of liver cancer last May at the age of 67. For NPR News, I'm Tom Vitale in New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEROIN")

LOU REED: (Singing) When I'm rushing on my run and I feel just like Jesus' son...

1 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。

2 largesse   

n.慷慨援助，施舍

参考例句：

• She is not noted for her largesse.没人听说过她出手大方。
• Our people are in no need of richer nations' largesse.我国人民不需要富国的施舍。

3 maiden   

n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的

参考例句：

• The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
• The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。

4 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。

5 landmine   

n.地雷

参考例句：

• A landmine is a kind of weapon used in war.地雷是一种运用于战争的武器。
• The treaty bans the use,production and trade of landmine.那条约禁止使用生产和交易雷。

6 stump   

n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走

参考例句：

• He went on the stump in his home state.他到故乡所在的州去发表演说。
• He used the stump as a table.他把树桩用作桌子。

7 strapped   

adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• Make sure that the child is strapped tightly into the buggy. 一定要把孩子牢牢地拴在婴儿车上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soldiers' great coats were strapped on their packs. 战士们的厚大衣扎捆在背包上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 puckered   

v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His face puckered , and he was ready to cry. 他的脸一皱，像要哭了。
• His face puckered, the tears leapt from his eyes. 他皱着脸，眼泪夺眶而出。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 hitched   

（免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上

参考例句：

• They hitched a ride in a truck. 他们搭乘了一辆路过的货车。
• We hitched a ride in a truck yesterday. 我们昨天顺便搭乘了一辆卡车。

10 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

11 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

12 poetic   

adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的

参考例句：

• His poetic idiom is stamped with expressions describing group feeling and thought.他的诗中的措辞往往带有描写群体感情和思想的印记。
• His poetic novels have gone through three different historical stages.他的诗情小说创作经历了三个不同的历史阶段。

13 stifled   

（使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵

参考例句：

• The gas stifled them. 煤气使他们窒息。
• The rebellion was stifled. 叛乱被镇压了。

14 sketches   

n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概

参考例句：

• The artist is making sketches for his next painting. 画家正为他的下一幅作品画素描。
• You have to admit that these sketches are true to life. 你得承认这些素描很逼真。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 cult   

n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜

参考例句：

• Her books aren't bestsellers,but they have a certain cult following.她的书算不上畅销书，但有一定的崇拜者。
• The cult of sun worship is probably the most primitive one.太阳崇拜仪式或许是最为原始的一种。

16 bum   

n.臀部；流浪汉，乞丐；vt.乞求，乞讨

参考例句：

• A man pinched her bum on the train so she hit him.在火车上有人捏她屁股，她打了那人。
• The penniless man had to bum a ride home.那个身无分文的人只好乞求搭车回家。

17 seething   

沸腾的，火热的

参考例句：

• The stadium was a seething cauldron of emotion. 体育场内群情沸腾。
• The meeting hall was seething at once. 会场上顿时沸腾起来了。

18 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

19 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

20 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

21 illuminates   

v.使明亮( illuminate的第三人称单数 )；照亮；装饰；说明

参考例句：

• The light shines on from over there and illuminates the stage. 灯光从那边照进来，照亮了舞台。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sun illuminates the sky. 太阳照亮了天空。 来自《简明英汉词典》