美国国家公共电台 NPR The Spirit Tells The Story In 'Orchestra Of Minorities'

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Chigozie Obioma's latest novel has an unusual narrator. Chinonso raises chickens and is profoundly alone in life till he sees a young woman who's about to hurl¹ herself off a bridge. She is Ndali, who's despondent² from a broken engagement - is drawn³ to his tenderness and protectiveness. He's drawn to her openness and vulnerability. They become involved. "An Orchestra Of Minorities" is a love story and a story of exile, Igbo folklore⁴ and a classical tragedy that is told not by any one character but Chinonso's chi. Let's ask the author about that. Chigozie Obioma, whose first novel, "The Fishermen," was a contender for the Man Booker Prize, joins us from member station WGVU in Grand Rapids, Mich. Thanks so much for being with us.

CHIGOZIE OBIOMA: Thank you very much, Scott. It's a pleasure.

SIMON: I don't want to get this wrong, so help us understand. What is a person's chi?

OBIOMA: So in Igbo cosmology, the Igbo tribe is situated⁵ in Nigeria in West Africa. So it's a person's guardian⁶ spirit. It is believed to be a spirit that - your intermediary but which also has the ability to help you negotiate your destiny. So we have a belief in predestination. And the chi is at the very center of that.

SIMON: The narrator, chi - if I might refer to the chi as the narrator chi - calls Chinonso my host. So does a person's chi stay with them?

OBIOMA: So there's been a very serious debate on where the chi is. And most Igbo, you know, religious scholars believe that the chi actually can inhabit a host. And some say that the chi leaves outside of the hosts like your shadow. It's always with you. But I do think that the chi can be seen as, you know, the equivalent of the Judeo-Christian concept of, say, the Holy Spirit or something like that.

SIMON: I was going to ask if you make that analogy. But I didn't - you know, I didn't want to try and twist cultures.

OBIOMA: (Laughter).

SIMON: You know, I tried to like Chinonso. And he suffers deeply from being hurt. But he pays back that hurt to innocent people, doesn't he?

OBIOMA: I think so. One of the things I wanted to explore in the book is whether or not revenge is justice. So he becomes, as the chi testifies, a man who is changed by, quote, "the spiritual politics to which he was not aware of" or something like that. And so, you know, the things that happen to him shape him and even deform⁷ him. And, you know, that transformation⁸ was very interesting to me as I set out to write the novel.

SIMON: You had a hospital stay as a youngster, which wound up changing your life.

OBIOMA: Yes. It wasn't a continuous - one continuous stay. It was, you know, frequent at some point in my childhood. And my dad would tell me stories. And then when I grew up a little bit and I was no longer as sickly as I used to be, I discovered one day that these stories that he was telling me was gotten from books. And, you know, that kind of turned on something in me. And I became this voracious⁹ reader. And the more I read, I think I came to write in true envy. I would always, you know, say to myself and my, you know, family, oh, I wish I could write like this guy. I wish I could write like this woman. And I was envious¹⁰ of these writers. And, you know, before you knew it, I started producing my own writing.

SIMON: You must have read deeply into classical mythology¹¹.

OBIOMA: Yes. And also, of course, Shakespeare and Greek myth. And, you know, unconsciously, I think my aesthetics¹² were shaped by those early exposure to those books.

SIMON: The "Odyssey¹³" figures into this novel a lot, doesn't it?

OBIOMA: Yes. I have seen that equivalents have been made between Chinonso's journey towards Ndali and the "Odyssey." But I wasn't setting out to rewrite, you know, a new version of the "Odyssey" as some critics, I think, have said. But, you know, if they see it that way, then that's probably a credit to the book.

SIMON: (Laughter) How do you write from the perspective of a chi? I mean, it's hard enough to write from the perspective of a character.

OBIOMA: I've always wanted to write something, you know, that will at least show the world that prior to the coming of the British to Nigeria we had some kind of complex systems. I feel like, you know, there hasn't been an African version of say, you know, Milton's "Paradise Lost," which actually explored the very foundational principle of Western civilization, which will be the free will or even Dante Alighieri's, you know, "The Inferno¹⁴." And so I wanted to write something cosmological. And the chi has been very fascinating to me. It was very difficult. It entailed¹⁵ a lot of research, even, you know, down to actually going to shrines¹⁶ and interviewing, you know, the last adherents¹⁷ of Odinani, the Igbo religion, now that most Africans are converts of either Christianity or Islam.

SIMON: I mean, a novelist kind of has to believe in free will. Doesn't he or she?

OBIOMA: (Laughter).

SIMON: Otherwise...

OBIOMA: Yes.

SIMON: ...There's no plot - yeah.

OBIOMA: You know, the novel is very Western. So a character without agency is no character. But I wanted to explore, can one write a novel that is not within the Western tradition? Can one write a novel where the character is probably half the time able to have agency while half the time, you know, like, principalities and metaphysical forces are dwelling¹⁸ to negotiate the character's life? So in some way, it's probably an uncharted territory, I'll say.

SIMON: Chigozie Obioma - his new novel, "An Orchestra Of Minorities" - thanks so much for being with us.

OBIOMA: Thank you very much, Scott. I enjoyed it.

1 hurl   

vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂

参考例句：

• The best cure for unhappiness is to hurl yourself into your work.医治愁苦的最好办法就是全身心地投入工作。
• To hurl abuse is no way to fight.谩骂决不是战斗。

2 despondent   

adj.失望的，沮丧的，泄气的

参考例句：

• He was up for a time and then，without warning,despondent again.他一度兴高采烈，但忽然又情绪低落下来。
• I feel despondent when my work is rejected.作品被拒后我感到很沮丧。

3 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。

4 folklore   

n.民间信仰，民间传说，民俗

参考例句：

• Zhuge Liang is a synonym for wisdom in folklore.诸葛亮在民间传说中成了智慧的代名词。
• In Chinese folklore the bat is an emblem of good fortune.在中国的民间传说中蝙蝠是好运的象征。

5 situated   

adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的

参考例句：

• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。
• She is awkwardly situated.她的处境困难。

6 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

7 deform   

vt.损坏…的形状；使变形，使变丑；vi.变形

参考例句：

• Shoes that are too tight deform the feet.(穿)太紧的鞋子会使脚变形。
• Ice crystals begin to deform measurably.冰晶就产生某种程度的变形了。

8 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

9 voracious   

adj.狼吞虎咽的，贪婪的

参考例句：

• She's a voracious reader of all kinds of love stories.什么样的爱情故事她都百看不厌。
• Joseph Smith was a voracious book collector.约瑟夫·史密斯是个如饥似渴的藏书家。

10 envious   

adj.嫉妒的，羡慕的

参考例句：

• I don't think I'm envious of your success.我想我并不嫉妒你的成功。
• She is envious of Jane's good looks and covetous of her car.她既忌妒简的美貌又垂涎她的汽车。

11 mythology   

n.神话，神话学，神话集

参考例句：

• In Greek mythology,Zeus was the ruler of Gods and men.在希腊神话中，宙斯是众神和人类的统治者。
• He is the hero of Greek mythology.他是希腊民间传说中的英雄。

12 aesthetics   

n.(尤指艺术方面之)美学，审美学

参考例句：

• Sometimes, of course, our markings may be simply a matter of aesthetics. 当然，有时我们的标点符号也许只是个审美的问题。 来自名作英译部分
• The field of aesthetics presents an especially difficult problem to the historian. 美学领域向历史学家提出了一个格外困难的问题。

13 odyssey   

n.长途冒险旅行；一连串的冒险

参考例句：

• The march to Travnik was the final stretch of a 16-hour odyssey.去特拉夫尼克的这段路是长达16小时艰险旅行的最后一程。
• His odyssey of passion, friendship,love,and revenge was now finished.他的热情、友谊、爱情和复仇的漫长历程，到此结束了。

14 inferno   

n.火海；地狱般的场所

参考例句：

• Rescue workers fought to get to victims inside the inferno.救援人员奋力营救大火中的受害者。
• The burning building became an inferno.燃烧着的大楼成了地狱般的地方。

15 entailed   

使…成为必要( entail的过去式和过去分词 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需

参考例句：

• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son. 城堡和土地限定由长子继承。
• The house and estate are entailed on the eldest daughter. 这所房子和地产限定由长女继承。

16 shrines   

圣地，圣坛，神圣场所( shrine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• All three structures dated to the third century and were tentatively identified as shrines. 这3座建筑都建于3 世纪，并且初步鉴定为神庙。
• Their palaces and their shrines are tombs. 它们的宫殿和神殿成了墓穴。

17 adherents   

n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙

参考例句：

• He is a leader with many adherents. 他是个有众多追随者的领袖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The proposal is gaining more and more adherents. 该建议得到越来越多的支持者。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 dwelling   

n.住宅，住所，寓所

参考例句：

• Those two men are dwelling with us.那两个人跟我们住在一起。
• He occupies a three-story dwelling place on the Park Street.他在派克街上有一幢3层楼的寓所。