美国国家公共电台 NPR In 'The Night Tiger,' Fantastic Beasts Of Colonial Malaysia

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

It's not just the finger of fate that brings Ren and Ji Lin together - it's a finger. Ren is an 11-year-old houseboy at the deathbed of his master Dr. MacFarlane, who takes a last breath to ask the boy to find the finger amputated from the doctor years before, and return it to him in his grave within 49 days before his soul disappears. Ji Lin is a dancehall girl and a dressmaker's assistant in 1930s Malaya who has a sudden gift pressed into her hand during a dance - a severed¹ finger in a glass tube. Ren is searching for a finger. Ji Lin is searching for a man who lost a finger. They're brought together in Yangsze Choo's new novel, "The Night Tiger." Yangsze Choo, author of the previous novel "The Ghost Bride" joins us from the studios of KQED in San Francisco. Thanks so much for being with us.

YANGSZE CHOO: Thank you for having me. It's my pleasure.

SIMON: So one finger disappears. Another is found. And a lot of people start dying, don't they?

CHOO: (Laughter) Yes, it's such a cheerful story, isn't it? You know my mum asked me - my first book was about the marriage of the dead. And this one is about missing fingers and possible weretigers. And my mom said, couldn't you write about something more uplifting? So yes.

SIMON: Well, this has its uplifting moments. But do tell us, please, about weretigers because some readers in America might have a hard time getting hold of them.

CHOO: Yeah, it is such - in many ways, such a bizarre idea. You know, the European story of the werewolf is a man who, you know, when the moon is full, changes his skin and goes out from his house to kill and eat in the forest. But in Malaysia, the idea of the weretiger is almost exactly the opposite. It is a beast who wears the skin of a human and comes out of the jungle to knock on your door and eat you in your home. But I've always been drawn² to the concept of the shapeshifter, perhaps because we are presented with the idea of, what is human, and what is a beast? You know, dualities and mirror worlds are things that sort of run through this novel. You know, on the one hand, it functions as a murder mystery. And on the other, it also has a lot of supernatural questions about it. And that's also embodied⁴, I think, in the notion of the weretiger, the shapeshifter.

SIMON: Tell us about Ji Lin. Not an easy life being a dancehall girl in 1930s Malaya, is it?

CHOO: No, not at all and actually quite a socially unacceptable occupation. I first read about these Chinese dancehalls in an old book when I was a kid. And this was, I think, called "Return To Malaya" by Bruce Lockhart. He wrote this one in 1936 or so. And it's a description of his travels. And in an aside, he describes visiting a Chinese dancehall in which he says there's all these young girls. And they dance really well. They're professional dancers. And in between dances, they're all kept in a pen. And you can only - you know, you can only dance with them for a ticket. And he'd mentioned how mysterious it was that nobody knew anything about them. They were so - you know, in some ways they were cloistered⁵. There were lots of rumors⁶. What did they do on the side? Or maybe they did nothing. And I thought, this is such a weird⁷ world and also so glamorous⁸ to think of all these girls in their, you know, flapper bobs and, you know, cheongsam or Western clothes there to dance.

SIMON: How do you, in writing a novel like this, keep the supernatural and the real all part of the same world?

CHOO: That was interesting. This novel, I think as I mentioned, in my mind seems like mirror worlds. The two worlds run concurrently⁹ so that you have the world of the dead and the world of the living and the world of servants and masters. And I feel that we are often in several planes of existence at the same time. For example, when my mother was a little girl, she had a friend who was a few years older than her. And this friend was a servant in one of these great British houses in Malaysia. And my mum told me that when she was little, she went to see her friend in the kitchen. And, you know, Malaysia's a very hot, tropical place. And her friend said, I'll give you something good. And she gave her a glass of ice water. And my mother had never had anything so cold before in her life. She said it was amazing. And I've always thought, you know, listening to her story, what a wondrous¹⁰ thing to happen and also that these dual³ worlds, I think, all exist at the same time. And it's fascinating.

SIMON: You grew up in several different places, I gather.

CHOO: I did. I did. My dad was a diplomat¹¹, so we spent a number of years outstation. When I was a little girl, I lived in Germany until I was about 8. And then we were back in Malaysia and then we were posted out again to Tokyo. And those were, I think, my formative years.

SIMON: And what do you think your fascination¹² with Malaya of the 1930s is? This is, I believe, your second novel set there.

CHOO: One, because there's not a great deal written about that time period. When I was a kid, I read a lot of Isabella Bird. She was this Scottish lady who traveled all over the world in the 1800s and kept a journal of what she saw. And I thought it was very intrepid¹³ of her to go to these places. And, you know, they say the past is like another country. I've always enjoyed historical fiction. And journeying to Malaysia at that time made me wonder, what was it like? You know, was a jungle eternally the same? Did it look different when, you know, there were bicycles rather than people riding on elephants? So I thought that was interesting, too.

SIMON: Yangsze Choo - her novel "The Night Tiger." Thanks so much for being with us.

CHOO: Thank you so much for having me. I'm a big fan of yours.

(SOUNDBITE OF EL TEN ELEVEN SONG, "THINKING LOUDLY")

1 severed   

v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂

参考例句：

• The doctor said I'd severed a vessel in my leg. 医生说我割断了腿上的一根血管。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We have severed diplomatic relations with that country. 我们与那个国家断绝了外交关系。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 dual   

adj.双的；二重的，二元的

参考例句：

• The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
• He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。

4 embodied   

v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含

参考例句：

• a politician who embodied the hopes of black youth 代表黑人青年希望的政治家
• The heroic deeds of him embodied the glorious tradition of the troops. 他的英雄事迹体现了军队的光荣传统。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 cloistered   

adj.隐居的，躲开尘世纷争的v.隐退，使与世隔绝( cloister的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• the cloistered world of the university 与世隔绝的大学
• She cloistered herself in the office. 她呆在办公室里好像与世隔绝一样。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

8 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。

9 concurrently   

adv.同时地

参考例句：

• He was given two twelve month sentences to run concurrently. 他两罪均判12个月监禁，同期执行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was given two prison sentences, to run concurrently. 他两罪均判监禁，同期执行。 来自辞典例句

10 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。

11 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

12 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

13 intrepid   

adj.无畏的，刚毅的

参考例句：

• He is not really satisfied with his intrepid action.他没有真正满意他的无畏行动。
• John's intrepid personality made him a good choice for team leader.约翰勇敢的个性适合作领导工作。