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美国国家公共电台 NPR A Middle-Aged Coming Of Age In 'All Grown Up'

时间:2017-03-07 03:13来源:互联网 提供网友:nan   字体: [ ]
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MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Is it possible to write a coming-of-age novel for a main character who is 39 years old? If so, Jami Attenberg may have written it. It's called "All Grown Up," and the central character is likeable even when she's not. She is just dead honest. Jami Attenberg, welcome to the program.

JAMI ATTENBERG: Hi, thanks for having me.

KELLY: We are glad to have you. OK, introduce us to your protagonist1, Andrea Bern.

ATTENBERG: So Andrea Bern is 39. She is a failed artist. She works as a graphic2 designer in advertising3. She's born and raised in New York, and she lives in Brooklyn. And she is trying to figure out how to become happy in her life.

KELLY: How to become happy - and she actually turns 40 as the novel unfolds.

ATTENBERG: It's true. Yeah (laughter) a crucial time to know whether or not you're happy.

KELLY: There you go. And yet, she seems to have none of the trappings of adulthood4 that women are expected to have by the time they are turning 40.

ATTENBERG: I mean, I don't know who made these rules, who made this list of milestones5, but somebody did it. And you know, it looks something like being married or partnered up, having a kid, owning a home, knowing what your career is and what direction you want to be going in your life, kind of really wanting to know what's next, which is something that she says a couple of times in the book. And sometimes, those milestones aren't of interest to people or available to people. And how do you figure out what it means to be an adult if you haven't achieved those traditional milestones?

KELLY: Yeah, and so she grapples with that throughout the book, these traditional milestones, and also just what the heck to do with her life. I mean - which was interesting to me because it's - some people figure that out early. They know what they want to be. They do it. It gives this purpose to their life. For others, like your character, it's this lurching, lifelong process. Is that something you were exploring through her?

ATTENBERG: I mean, the only thing I ever really had going for me my entire life was knowing what I wanted to do with my life. I didn't have anything else figured out, but I knew that I always wanted to be a writer and that I wanted to be an artist. And so it's possible that this was an exploration of not having that direction and not knowing what it is. I think that if you can figure out what you want to do with your life, you're one of the luckiest people in the world because I know so many people that struggle with that and struggle with it their 20s, 30s and 40s until the day that they die. And it's a real gift when you can figure it out.

KELLY: Yeah, and so she never does. Was it hard to write a character like that, who seems to be lurching from one thing to the next looking for what's going to be her animating6 mission in life?

ATTENBERG: I mean, I just enjoyed her so much. I enjoyed - even when she was bad, she was really entertaining to write because she has a very funny voice. She's really witty7 and sharp and direct and honest with everybody around her and with herself. I mean, it was - I think maybe I've witnessed people like that before, but - I don't know - that's part of being a writer, right? - is, like, writing things outside yourself.

KELLY: Absolutely. She - you mentioned she's honest and direct. And I have to ask you about some of the sex scenes you wrote. There is one that is between Andrea and a newly divorced dad. It is pretty raw, and I wondered as I read it, I wonder if Jami, as she was writing, if you were laughing or cringing8.

ATTENBERG: I mean, listen, all sex scenes to me are entertaining if - even if they're bad or they're good. I usually try to write really positive sex scenes, but this one to me was - had to go the direction that it had to go. I think that, at one point, I describe her as achieving an orgasm in a minor9 key, which really entertained me. I like - bad sex is still good, you know, it's still interesting. From a writing perspective, you get to know about characters in that way.

KELLY: Stay with that point for a second, that you get to know your characters through writing the sex scenes. How so?

ATTENBERG: Oh, it's the same to me as anything else. I mean, what a character likes to eat and what their politics are and the way that they have sex or like to have sex, it's all about getting to know a person.

KELLY: And I guess they're literally10 naked and stripped down so you're getting to know them on that level.

ATTENBERG: Yeah, really. And it's - I don't know, I think it's really fun to write. People always comment on my sex scenes in my writing. And I'm just like, how are you not awake and aware and observant when you're having sex?

KELLY: But then actually writing it down and knowing everybody's going to read about it is a different thing.

ATTENBERG: Well, it's not my sex life, it's the characters, you know. Like, you can be aware of sex, you can have had sex and you can invent sex out of that sex. Like, that's a very writerly thing to do.

KELLY: So I have to share that I sat down and did not stand up until I had finished this book. I read it straight from start to finish in one go. I can't think of another book I've done that about recently. How - did you write it in that way? Did you - once you got the character in your head, it just flew?

ATTENBERG: Well, my favorite way to read a book is the way that you just described. I like the idea of somebody buying it in an airport on one end of the trip and then finishing it by the end of the trip and sort of sobbing11 on the plane too. That would be a little fantasy of mine as well.

(LAUGHTER)

ATTENBERG: But you know, I did - I wrote it really quickly. I started it. I wrote three chapters in the book as short stories and then I put it away for a year because even though the character isn't me, I was going to have to think about being an adult and being a grown-up and look at my own life so that I could understand how to write about it in somebody else's character. A friend of mine, a novelist, Alex Chee, I showed him some of the stories, and he was, like, I don't understand why you're not writing this book.

So I went away for three weeks to residency, and I wrote it really quickly, I mean, 90 pages of it just like that. And then it was just - I was really off after that. You know, I was just - I just went on a real tear, and I think I wrote it probably from beginning to middle to end within a six-month period.

KELLY: Wow.

ATTENBERG: But it's a very short book, right (laughter)? So it was just all there in me. I was just ready to talk about all of these things.

KELLY: That's Jami Attenberg. Her new book is "All Grown Up." Jami Attenberg, thanks so much.

ATTENBERG: Thank you for having me.

(SOUNDBITE OF MONSTER RALLY SONG, "LOVELY YOU")


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 protagonist mBVyN     
n.(思想观念的)倡导者;主角,主人公
参考例句:
  • The protagonist reforms in the end and avoids his proper punishment.戏剧主角最后改过自新并避免了他应受的惩罚。
  • He is the model for the protagonist in the play.剧本中的主人公就是以他为模特儿创作的!
2 graphic Aedz7     
adj.生动的,形象的,绘画的,文字的,图表的
参考例句:
  • The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
  • Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。
3 advertising 1zjzi3     
n.广告业;广告活动 a.广告的;广告业务的
参考例句:
  • Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
  • The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。
4 adulthood vKsyr     
n.成年,成人期
参考例句:
  • Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
  • Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。
5 milestones 9b680059d7f7ea92ea578a9ceeb0f0db     
n.重要事件( milestone的名词复数 );重要阶段;转折点;里程碑
参考例句:
  • Several important milestones in foreign policy have been passed by this Congress and they can be chalked up as major accomplishments. 这次代表大会通过了对外政策中几起划时代的事件,并且它们可作为主要成就记录下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Dale: I really envy your milestones over the last few years, Don. 我真的很羡慕你在过去几年中所建立的丰功伟绩。 来自互联网
6 animating HzizMt     
v.使有生气( animate的现在分词 );驱动;使栩栩如生地动作;赋予…以生命
参考例句:
  • Nature has her animating spirit as well as man who is nature's child. 大自然就象它的孩子――人类一样,有活生生的灵魂。 来自辞典例句
  • They were doubtlessly the animating principle of many hours that superficially seemed vacant. 在表面看来无所事事的许多时刻中,它们无疑是活跃的因素。 来自辞典例句
7 witty GMmz0     
adj.机智的,风趣的
参考例句:
  • Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。
  • He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。
8 cringing Pvbz1O     
adj.谄媚,奉承
参考例句:
  • He had a cringing manner but a very harsh voice.他有卑屈谄媚的神情,但是声音却十分粗沙。
  • She stepped towards him with a movement that was horribly cringing.她冲他走了一步,做出一个低三下四,令人作呕的动作。
9 minor e7fzR     
adj.较小(少)的,较次要的;n.辅修学科;vi.辅修
参考例句:
  • The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
  • I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。
10 literally 28Wzv     
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实
参考例句:
  • He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
  • Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候,她不走到真正要昏厥了,决不肯坐下来。
11 sobbing df75b14f92e64fc9e1d7eaf6dcfc083a     
<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的
参考例句:
  • I heard a child sobbing loudly. 我听见有个孩子在呜呜地哭。
  • Her eyes were red with recent sobbing. 她的眼睛因刚哭过而发红。
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TAG标签:   NPR  美国国家电台  英语听力
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