美国国家公共电台 NPR In 'The Undressing,' Li-Young Lee Processes Violence And Beauty Of Human Connection

 

SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:

In his latest book, "The Undressing," poet Li-Young Lee explores the beauty and violence of human relationships and connection.

LI-YOUNG LEE: (Reading) I loved you before I was born. It doesn't make sense, I know. I saw your eyes before I had eyes to see. And I've lived longing¹ for your every look ever since.

MCCAMMON: Over the course of this slim volume of poems, a romantic moment stretches into a spiral of memory and longing, taking the reader on an emotional and sometimes turbulent journey that ends much like it began. Joining me now to discuss all of that and more is poet Li-Young Lee. He joins us from member station WQED in Pittsburgh. Li-Young Lee, thank you so much for joining us.

LEE: Thank you for having me, Sarah.

MCCAMMON: The inside jacket of this book, "The Undressing," says that this collection of poems, quote, "attempts to uncover things hidden since the dawn of the world." That sounds like a big undertaking². What do you mean by that?

LEE: Yeah (laughter). I was kind of shocked that I said that. I guess, you know, when one writes poetry, you enter into a relationship with the logos.

MCCAMMON: That's Greek for word, right?

LEE: Yes, it's the Greek for word. And when we write poems, we enter into a relationship - a deep relationship - with the logos, the word and with the dynamism of opposites, you know, meaning and nonsense, chaos³ and order and form and void. So it seems to me that when we write poems, we are trying to access or understand those deep laws. So that's what I meant, I guess.

MCCAMMON: Some of your poems seem to express almost a frustration⁴, though, with poetry. For example, there's a section in your book where the speaker appears to be a woman. She's referred to as she. And she says, you call yourself a poet. You tame high-finisher of paltry⁵ blots⁶. You publish doubt and call it knowledge. You destroy the wisdom of ages to gratify your envy. You murder benevolence⁷ and virtue⁸ with condescension⁹. You pretend to poetry and destroy imagination.

Do you ever feel that way about your own writing?

LEE: Oh, that's exactly what I feel about my own writing. And I had to face this goddess-like figure in that poem who was telling me all these things and accusing me. And I face her every morning and every night before I go to bed, you know. That's the - I don't want to say a negative muse¹⁰, but she - yeah, she accuses me of all those things. And I thought maybe if I gave expression to her accusations¹¹, I could kind of exorcise myself of those things, you know.

MCCAMMON: I want to talk about your family history, which you've written about over the years, including in "The Undressing." You talk about your siblings¹², your father. I should mention you were born in Indonesia. Your father was a political prisoner there for a year, and then the family fled the country. If you would, I'd like you to read for us page 43, section 4.

LEE: OK.

(Reading) After 19 months in prison, eight of those in a leper colony - and he never got leprosy - my father was unrecognizable to me. So when I spied my mother slipping him a bar of soap during our visit, I thought that strange man had thieved it from her. As the guards were returning him to his cell, I ran after them and snatched the soap out of my father's pocket, exposing my parents' ploy¹³. The guards had a good laugh when they discovered what was happening. Funny thing is, my father later told me, they didn't punish him that time, though in the past he'd been tortured for lesser¹⁴ offenses¹⁵. The reason was he'd been teaching the prison guards in secret, at their request, to read and write in English using the King James Bible.

MCCAMMON: Is this based on a true story?

LEE: This is an absolutely true story. You know, my father was a political prisoner. And the reason he was kept safe was because of the stories he told. He had a gift for storytelling. And even the guards loved to hear him tell stories, and so they kept him safe because of that. And they later found out that he also spoke¹⁶ and read English, and they had him teaching them.

MCCAMMON: You describe it almost as as a witness. You were not there, correct?

LEE: No.

MCCAMMON: So this is - how were these stories passed down to you?

LEE: They were passed down from my sister. Well, I was born there. And this was actually something that happened to me. But a lot of - I have an older sister and older brother who remembered a lot of these things. You know, they would always tell me things. You did this or you did that or we did this or this happened to us. And - so it's my family - the family canon I'm trying to account for.

MCCAMMON: Li-Young Lee. His latest book of poems, "The Undressing," is out now. Thank you so much for joining us.

LEE: Thank you, Sarah.

1 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

2 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。

3 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

4 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

5 paltry   

adj.无价值的，微不足道的

参考例句：

• The parents had little interest in paltry domestic concerns.那些家长对家里鸡毛蒜皮的小事没什么兴趣。
• I'm getting angry;and if you don't command that paltry spirit of yours.我要生气了，如果你不能振作你那点元气。

6 blots   

污渍( blot的名词复数 )； 墨水渍； 错事； 污点

参考例句：

• The letter had many blots and blurs. 信上有许多墨水渍和污迹。
• It's all, all covered with blots the same as if she were crying on the paper. 到处，到处都是泪痕，像是她趴在信纸上哭过。 来自名作英译部分

7 benevolence   

n.慈悲，捐助

参考例句：

• We definitely do not apply a policy of benevolence to the reactionaries.我们对反动派决不施仁政。
• He did it out of pure benevolence. 他做那件事完全出于善意。

8 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

9 condescension   

n.自以为高人一等，贬低(别人)

参考例句：

• His politeness smacks of condescension. 他的客气带有屈尊俯就的意味。
• Despite its condescension toward the Bennet family, the letter begins to allay Elizabeth's prejudice against Darcy. 尽管这封信对班纳特家的态度很高傲，但它开始消除伊丽莎白对达西的偏见。

10 muse   

n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感

参考例句：

• His muse had deserted him,and he could no longer write.他已无灵感，不能再写作了。
• Many of the papers muse on the fate of the President.很多报纸都在揣测总统的命运。

11 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

12 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

13 ploy   

n.花招，手段

参考例句：

• I think this is just a government ploy to deceive the public.我认为这只是政府欺骗公众的手段。
• Christmas should be a time of excitement and wonder,not a cynical marketing ploy.圣诞节应该是兴奋和美妙的时刻，而不该是一种肆无忌惮的营销策略。

14 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

15 offenses   

n.进攻( offense的名词复数 )；（球队的）前锋；进攻方法；攻势

参考例句：

• It's wrong of you to take the child to task for such trifling offenses. 因这类小毛病责备那孩子是你的不对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Thus, Congress cannot remove an executive official except for impeachable offenses. 因此，除非有可弹劾的行为，否则国会不能罢免行政官员。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

16 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。