美国国家公共电台 NPR Facing Death Threats And A Ban On His Novel, A Palestinian Author Flees

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

A crime novel set in Ramallah has been outlawed¹ there and in other Palestinian cities. The Palestinian Authority's attorney general banned the book. He said it contains indecent terms that threaten public morality. Now the author's gone into hiding. NPR's Joanne Kakissis spoke² to him and sent this report.

JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE³: Abbad Yahya has been writing controversial novels about Palestinian society for years. Speaking to NPR via Skype, the 28-year-old writer says his critics usually complain about the same things.

ABBAD YAHYA: Sometimes about the political opinions characters have and the secret life of the people sexually or psychologically - something like this.

KAKISSIS: Yahya expected similar criticism of his recent fourth novel, titled "Crime In Ramallah." It follows the lives of three young men affected⁴ by the murder of a woman in the city where the Palestinian Authority has its headquarters. It also portrays⁵ the authority's leaders as ineffective and corrupt⁶.

YAHYA: I thought the book may raise some noise and provoke writers, intellectuals or readers, but I really was shocked when I started to read what people are writing about me.

KAKISSIS: Last month, they wrote in Facebook posts that they wanted to lynch him and burn bookstores carrying his latest novel. They were especially outraged⁷ that one of the characters is a gay man who has a sexual fantasy about Yasser Arafat. Yahya says he was shocked at the venom⁸, especially in Ramallah, a lively city where he has always felt free to write what he wants. Then he heard police had detained his novel's distributor, Fuad Akleek.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Foreign language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Foreign language spoken).

KAKISSIS: I make Akleek at a bookstore in Ramallah. He tells me what happened.

FUAD AKLEEK: (Through interpreter) The police asked me, where do you get the books? Who did you distribute the books to? Where are your copies?

KAKISSIS: The Palestinian Authority's attorney general had issued a statement saying the book is indecent. Police then asked the bookstore's owner, Khadr IBRAHIM al-Bis', to hand over copies of the book.

KHADR IBRAHIM AL-BIS': (Through interpreter) But I only had one left. People had heard about the crackdown and bought 17 copies in just a few hours.

KAKISSIS: The last time Palestinian authorities banned a book was 10 years ago. At that time, the militant⁹ group Hamas was in charge of the education ministry¹⁰, and the book was a folk tale anthology distributed to schools. Yahya says he never expected censorship from more progressive Palestinian Authority officials.

YAHYA: In public, when they talk about Israel and they talk about freedom and human rights and Palestine, they try to appeal to liberals.

KAKISSIS: But, he adds, they act like conservatives at home because they're so unpopular. Yahya was in Qatar when he heard police were looking for him. He canceled a public appearance at a book club in the West Bank city of Nablus due to death threats. Book club members like Ala'a Qaraman felt threatened even reading the book in public, as she told NPR via Skype.

ALA'A QARAMAN: No one can hold this book in Nablus in public. You must book it in a bag or something. So it's really like having a stash¹¹ of drugs - something illegal - and you are hiding it.

KAKISSIS: Yahya is in hiding himself, somewhere in the Middle East. He won't disclose his location because he fears he will be arrested or harmed. Meanwhile, the PEN Center, a literary organization which promotes free speech, has offered him a fellowship in Germany. Joanna Kakissis, NPR News, in Ramallah, the West Bank.

1 outlawed   

宣布…为不合法（outlaw的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Most states have outlawed the use of marijuana. 大多数州都宣布使用大麻为非法行为。
• I hope the sale of tobacco will be outlawed someday. 我希望有朝一日烟草制品会禁止销售。

2 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。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 portrays   

v.画像( portray的第三人称单数 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The museum collection vividly portrays the heritage of 200 years of canals. 博物馆的藏品让运河200 年的历史再现眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The film portrays Gandhi as a kind of superman. 这部电影把甘地描绘成一个超人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

7 outraged   

a.震惊的，义愤填膺的

参考例句：

• Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
• He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。

8 venom   

n.毒液，恶毒，痛恨

参考例句：

• The snake injects the venom immediately after biting its prey.毒蛇咬住猎物之后马上注入毒液。
• In fact,some components of the venom may benefit human health.事实上，毒液的某些成分可能有益于人类健康。

9 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

10 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

11 stash   

v.藏或贮存于一秘密处所；n.隐藏处

参考例句：

• Stash away both what you lost and gained,for life continues on.将得失深藏心底吧，为了那未来的生活。
• That's supposed to be in our private stash.这是我的私人珍藏。