美国国家公共电台 NPR In 'That Kind Of Mother,' A White Mom, A Black Son

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Rumaan Alam writes women well. His first acclaimed¹ novel, "Rich And Pretty," followed two young women, best friends who grow up and then part. His new second novel, "That Kind Of Mother," begins as another story about a female relationship - this one between Rebecca, a white poet and first-time mom, and Priscilla, a black woman who works as her nanny.

RUMAAN ALAM: I think it is an inherently complex relationship and one that is not often discussed. I am somebody who has two children of my own. And my husband and I have had three different child care providers. And they were our employees, but we relied on them with the only thing that matters in our lives, which is our children. And so the level of trust and intimacy² that is an important part of that relationship elevates it from a traditional understanding of what it is to have an employee or what it is to have an employer, I think.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So these two characters - their relationship is actually transformed when, suddenly, the families truly become a family. Rebecca adopts Priscilla's child. Can you talk a little bit about that? Because, obviously, there is not only the issue of their relationship, but there is a race issue and a class issue here, too.

ALAM: Absolutely. I think that the way that we talk about complicated political issues now is much more appropriate. We talk about the intersection³ between race and feminism, for example, or class and race. And I think that all of those concerns are really linked in the power dynamic at the center of this book. Rebecca is a white woman. Priscilla is a black woman. They come together as a family via adoption⁴, but there is still a lot that separates them from one another. And that is what the book is trying to press on and tease out.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, clearly, it's personal for you. You know, you've written about your sons, who are adopted. They're black. Your husband is white, as you've said, and described yourself - you're brown. Was this story drawn⁵ on your own experiences?

ALAM: Certainly not. I mean, this is - you know, the emotional truth in the book is very much my own. But you would have to know me pretty well to understand what in the text is autobiographical. I'll tell you one thing since we're friends now - that I do make spaghetti carbonara just like Rebecca does in the book. And I always guiltily throw a package of spinach⁶ into it. But this is a story about adoption using very dramatic and heightened circumstances. And in my own experience, adoption does not work this way. Our children were placed in open adoptions⁷, and there is a certain amount of maternal⁸ agency in that choice. And in this book, I'm talking about the sort of sudden death of a character, the sudden erasure⁹ of someone. And the adoption almost feels like it does in myths - the child just arrives wholesale¹⁰.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: One of the things that I've found really interesting in the book is the culminating scene where there is the, quote, unquote, "talk." And we've become so familiar now because of Black Lives Matter with that talk that African-American parents have specifically with their young black sons about the way that they deal with the police and the way that they may be treated in different spaces. But you have set this book in the last century. And, of course, that idea, that knowledge had not really penetrated¹¹ white American consciousness then.

ALAM: That's right. There are two levels to this answer. One is that it's a great advantage to write about the past because I know how the story ends even if the characters inside the texts do not. And the reader knows how the story ends, too. So in the text when Rebecca talks about holding up Bill Cosby as a role model, the reader understands the ways in which Bill Cosby has failed to be the role model we all maybe once believed that he was. And the notion that black parents have historically provided to their sons this intelligence about what will happen to them upon becoming black men - this is a tradition that exists within the black community that I would not have known about had I not had black sons. And it felt really like an important opportunity to explore the ways in which black Americans have been having these conversations, and white Americans have not.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: We've heard a lot about the limitations of authors writing about things that they haven't experienced. There has been a lot of controversy¹² about this, especially when we're discussing other races and even gender¹³. Do you think that applies? I mean, do you think that that's something that you embrace?

ALAM: Sure. I think a lot of what that conversation is about is a particular power dynamic. And if there is a reader who is a woman or who is a black woman who reads this book and says, he's got it totally wrong, and I'm offended, I have to accept that. I hope that that will not be the case. And I think so much of it is in the approach. And I hope that readers can sense that my approach to writing about difference is from a point of a genuine desire to understand and depict¹⁴ something that I can't know firsthand. And I think a lot of the sensitivity around inhabiting a different perspective, whether it's race or gender or ability - people should be sensitive, and they should wade¹⁵ into this stuff carefully. And that's what I've tried to do.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Rumaan Alam is the author of "That Kind Of Mother." Thank you very much.

ALAM: Thank you.

1 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

2 intimacy   

n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行

参考例句：

• His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切，这有点言过其实。
• I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。

3 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。

4 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

5 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

6 spinach   

n.菠菜

参考例句：

• Eating spinach is supposed to make you strong.据说吃菠菜能使人强壮。
• You should eat such vegetables as carrot,celery and spinach.你应该吃胡萝卜、芹菜和菠菜这类的蔬菜。

7 adoptions   

n.采用，收养( adoption的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Adoption agencies are always so open to alternative family adoptions. 领养中介机构永远都对领养家庭敞开。 来自电影对白
• The number of adoptions has grown in the past year. 去年，收养子女的数字增加了。 来自互联网

8 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

9 erasure   

n.擦掉，删去；删掉的词；消音；抹音

参考例句：

• The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth. 过去给人擦拭个干净，擦拭的行为又忘了个干净，于是，谎言就变成了真理。 来自英汉文学
• The inspection, modification, replacement or erasure of part of file's contents. 检查、修改、代替或擦去文档内容一部分的过程。 来自互联网

10 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

11 penetrated   

adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The knife had penetrated his chest. 刀子刺入了他的胸膛。
• They penetrated into territory where no man had ever gone before. 他们已进入先前没人去过的地区。

12 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

13 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

14 depict   

vt.描画，描绘；描写，描述

参考例句：

• I don't care to see plays or films that depict murders or violence.我不喜欢看描写谋杀或暴力的戏剧或电影。
• Children's books often depict farmyard animals as gentle,lovable creatures.儿童图书常常把农场的动物描写得温和而可爱。

15 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。