美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Annotated African American Folktales' Reclaims Stories Passed Down From Slavery

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Browsing¹ through a weighty new anthology called "The Annotated² African American Folktales" is a journey across space and time. In one chapter called Defiance³ and Desire, there's a section devoted⁴ to flying Africans where there's a lyric⁵ that I was familiar with. It's a song Paul Robeson recorded many years ago.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALL GOD'S CHILLUN GOT WINGS")

PAUL ROBESON: (Singing) I got wings. You got wings. All of God's children got wings. When I get to heaven, going to hitch⁶ on my wings. I'm going to fly all over God's heaven, heaven, heaven...

SIEGEL: There are also folk tales told by slaves of newly arrived Africans who, unlike the slaves, had not yet lost the ability to fly and stories of Africans who escaped slavery by flying back to Africa. "The Annotated African American Folktales" is edited by two Harvard professor, Henry Louis Gates, who's a professor of English and African and African-American literature, and Maria Tatar, who's a professor of folklore⁷ and mythology⁸ and Germanic languages and literature. Welcome to both of you.

HENRY LOUIS GATES: Thanks so much, Robert.

MARIA TATAR: Thanks for having us.

SIEGEL: And professor Tatar, you have edited in the past "The Annotated Brothers Grimm." Compared to that work, was there a special challenge in editing a collection of African-American folk tales?

TATAR: Well, I would say that these are stories that have the same high coefficient of weirdness⁹. They have that magical quality. They give us mysteries wrapped in enigmas¹⁰ inside riddles¹¹. They are - we have to respond to them. We have to figure them out.

SIEGEL: Henry Louis Gates, those flying Africans would be (laughter) - would be an example of that magical weirdness in folk life. It's kind of surprising to me.

GATES: The relationship between flying, freedom and death is one of the curious things about the African-American oral tradition - that you would fly away, as Paul Robeson just so beautifully sang, but you fly away after death to heaven. You know, it wasn't a kind of magic carpet when you go to another world and then return to your previous life. It was a transition in the literal sense of going from one realm of existence to another.

And these stories are told with an enormous amount of admiration¹² and respect. But also, it's a musing¹³ about a form of suicide, that it was better to will yourself back home to Africa, will yourself back to the other side of the Atlantic than to live the social death of human bondage¹⁴ here in the United States.

SIEGEL: In addition to African folk tales and dozens of stories and illustrations that fill over 600 pages, Gates and Tatar have devoted a chapter to Joel Chandler Harris. He was the white Georgia newspaperman who collected the folk tales of southern blacks. His Uncle Remus stories introduced generations of readers, many white readers to Br'er Rabbit and Br'er Fox.

Gates and Tatar do note that Joel Chandler Harris was a spokesman for what's been called the Arcadian South of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben. His stories were later adapted by Disney for the movie "Song Of The South." And I asked the editors of this new anthology about including African-American folk tales that had been repurposed very profitably for white audiences.

GATES: Joel Chandler Harris did an enormous service. We can debate the fact that - well, he certainly wasn't a black man, and we could debate what his motivation was. And we could wonder, did African-Americans receive any percentage or share of the enormous profit that he made? The answer is absolutely not. But on the other hand, a lot of these tales would have been lost without Joel Chandler Harris.

TATAR: I was going to present the counter-argument. That is, did he kill African-American folklore because after all, if you look at the frame narrative¹⁵, who is Uncle Remus telling the stories to - a little white boy. And so suddenly this entire tradition has been appropriated for white audiences and made sort of charming rather than, you know, subversive¹⁶ and perilous¹⁷, dangerous, stories that could be told only at nighttime when the masters were not listening.

GATES: But think about it this way. It came into my parlor¹⁸. It came into my bedroom through the lips of a black man - my father - who would have us read the Uncle Remus tales but within a whole different context. And my father would - can we say, re-breath blackness into those folk tales.

SIEGEL: (Laughter).

TATAR: Fair enough.

GATES: So it's a very complicated legacy¹⁹.

SIEGEL: There is a chapter of the book that is devoted to ballads²⁰, including John Henry, Railroad Bill and this song that was recorded by everyone from Lead Belly²¹ to Mae West to, in this instance, Taj Mahal. It's either "Frankie And Johnny" or "Frankie And Albert" depending on...

GATES: Yeah.

SIEGEL: ...On the choice.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FRANKIE AND ALBERT")

TAJ MAHAL: (Singing) Frankie and Albert were sweethearts. Lordy, how they could love - vowed²² to love one another, baby, beneath the stars above. It was her man, and he was doing her wrong.

SIEGEL: But he did her wrong.

GATES: He did her wrong (laughter).

SIEGEL: He did her wrong. A - not a folk song. I mean, is it just a very old, popular song, no?

TATAR: Well, it was inspired by an actual story. And these ballads really give us stories about people who break the law, who are transgressive, who do terrible things. They are full of melodrama²³, treachery, betrayal. And again, all the - it's a story. The story of "Frankie And Johnny" gets us talking about this relationship, about murder, about how marriage is an institution. Well, let's say even relationships are haunted by the threat of murder. There is violence at the core of these stories.

GATES: And I think it was Leslie Fiedler, if I'm remembering correctly, who said basically the two great themes of literature were love and death (laughter). And love and death return over and over again not only in the folktales but in the ballads - in the ballads that are all about - I'm in love; I used to be in love; I love my baby, and my baby doesn't love me, and so I'm going to kill somebody.

SIEGEL: (Laughter).

TATAR: I'm going to get my revenge, yeah.

GATES: I'm going to get my revenge.

(LAUGHTER)

SIEGEL: That's the completely reductionist version of an anthology of...

GATES: Right.

(LAUGHTER)

SIEGEL: ...Of ballads.

GATES: But it's true - and that they live through different iterations. And I love it. It's like links in a chain. And these chains go back hundreds of years from - starting today back through the written tradition, crossing over the - to the oral tradition. And people like Maria and me - our job is to put them in a form in which they can be consumed by a whole new generation.

TATAR: I see these stories as a way of listening to the ancestry²⁴, as Toni Morrison would put it. And then I hope that this book will be a platform for making the stories new, making them our own again.

GATES: And that's precisely²⁵ why we have two sets of dedications²⁶ - Maria's and mine. And my dedication²⁷ says, this volume is dedicated²⁸ to Eleanor Margaret Gates-Hatley - l'dor va'dor, meaning generation to generation. That's my 3-year-old granddaughter (laughter). And I want these tales to be hers just like my father made these tales mine.

SIEGEL: Maria Tatar and Skip Gates - Henry Louis Gates Jr. - editors of "The Annotated African American Folk Tales," thanks so much for talking with us today.

GATES: Thank you, good brother.

TATAR: Thanks for inviting²⁹ us.

(SOUNDBITE OF TAJ MAHAL SONG, "FRANKIE AND ALBERT")

1 browsing   

v.吃草( browse的现在分词 )；随意翻阅；（在商店里）随便看看；（在计算机上）浏览信息

参考例句：

• He sits browsing over[through] a book. 他坐着翻阅书籍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Cattle is browsing in the field. 牛正在田里吃草。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 annotated   

v.注解，注释( annotate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Thematic maps should always be annotated with the source and date of the topical information. 各类专题地图，均应注明专题资料来源和日期。 来自辞典例句
• And this is the version annotated by Umberto de Bologna. 并且这是有安博多-德-波罗格那注释的版本。 来自电影对白

3 defiance   

n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗

参考例句：

• He climbed the ladder in defiance of the warning.他无视警告爬上了那架梯子。
• He slammed the door in a spirit of defiance.他以挑衅性的态度把门砰地一下关上。

4 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

5 lyric   

n.抒情诗，歌词；adj.抒情的

参考例句：

• This is a good example of Shelley's lyric poetry.这首诗是雪莱抒情诗的范例。
• His earlier work announced a lyric talent of the first order.他的早期作品显露了一流的抒情才华。

6 hitch   

v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉

参考例句：

• They had an eighty-mile journey and decided to hitch hike.他们要走80英里的路程，最后决定搭便车。
• All the candidates are able to answer the questions without any hitch.所有报考者都能对答如流。

7 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。

8 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。

9 weirdness   

n.古怪，离奇，不可思议

参考例句：

• The weirdness of the city by night held her attention. 夜间城市的古怪景象吸引了她的注意力。
• But that's not the end of the weirdness feasible in evolutionary systems. 然而这还不是进化系统居然可行的最怪异的地方呐。

10 enigmas   

n.难于理解的问题、人、物、情况等，奥秘( enigma的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The last words of Night Haunter stand as one of the great enigmas of Imperial history. 暗夜幽魂最后的临死前的话成为了帝国历史上的最大谜团之一。 来自互联网
• Heraclitus saith well in one of his enigmas, Dry light is ever the best. 赫拉克里塔斯在他的隐语之一中说得很好，“干光永远最佳”。 来自互联网

11 riddles   

n.谜（语）( riddle的名词复数 )；猜不透的难题，难解之谜

参考例句：

• Few riddles collected from oral tradition, however, have all six parts. 但是据收集的情况看，口头流传的谜语很少具有这完整的六部分。 来自英汉非文学 - 民俗
• But first, you'd better see if you can answer riddles. 但是你首先最好想想你会不会猜谜语。 来自辞典例句

12 admiration   

n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕

参考例句：

• He was lost in admiration of the beauty of the scene.他对风景之美赞不绝口。
• We have a great admiration for the gold medalists.我们对金牌获得者极为敬佩。

13 musing   

n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• "At Tellson's banking-house at nine," he said, with a musing face. “九点在台尔森银行大厦见面，”他想道。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• She put the jacket away, and stood by musing a minute. 她把那件上衣放到一边，站着沉思了一会儿。

14 bondage   

n.奴役，束缚

参考例句：

• Masters sometimes allowed their slaves to buy their way out of bondage.奴隶主们有时允许奴隶为自己赎身。
• They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。

15 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

16 subversive   

adj.颠覆性的，破坏性的；n.破坏份子，危险份子

参考例句：

• She was seen as a potentially subversive within the party.她被看成党内潜在的颠覆分子。
• The police is investigating subversive group in the student organization.警方正调查学生组织中的搞颠覆阴谋的集团。

17 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

18 parlor   

n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅

参考例句：

• She was lying on a small settee in the parlor.她躺在客厅的一张小长椅上。
• Is there a pizza parlor in the neighborhood?附近有没有比萨店？

19 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

20 ballads   

民歌，民谣，特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 )； 讴

参考例句：

• She belted out ballads and hillbilly songs one after another all evening. 她整晚一个接一个地大唱民谣和乡村小调。
• She taught him to read and even to sing two or three little ballads,accompanying him on her old piano. 她教他读书，还教他唱两三首民谣，弹着她的旧钢琴为他伴奏。

21 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

22 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

23 melodrama   

n.音乐剧；情节剧

参考例句：

• We really don't need all this ridiculous melodrama!别跟我们来这套荒唐的情节剧表演！
• White Haired Woman was a melodrama,but in certain spots it was deliberately funny.《白毛女》是一出悲剧性的歌剧，但也有不少插科打诨。

24 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

25 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

26 dedications   

奉献( dedication的名词复数 )； 献身精神； 教堂的)献堂礼； （书等作品上的）题词

参考例句：

27 dedication   

n.奉献，献身，致力，题献，献辞

参考例句：

• We admire her courage,compassion and dedication.我们钦佩她的勇气、爱心和奉献精神。
• Her dedication to her work was admirable.她对工作的奉献精神可钦可佩。

28 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

29 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。