美国国家公共电台 NPR Joyce Carol Oates' New Novel Begins With An Abortion Doctor's Murder

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Joyce Carol Oates is also taken aback by the relevance¹ of her fiction these days. She's written dozens of books, won piles of literary prizes, and she joined our co-host Ari Shapiro to talk about her latest novel, which begins with a killing².

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

A man who considers himself a soldier of Christ shoots a doctor who performs abortions³. Over the next 700 pages, we see the consequences of that act rippling⁵ through both families - the doctor's and his killer⁶'s. The novel is called "A Book Of American Martyrs⁷," and Joyce Carol Oates joins us now. Welcome to the program.

JOYCE CAROL OATES: Thank you.

SHAPIRO: You wrote this book before Donald Trump⁸ won the presidential election, and it now feels impossible to read the novel without seeing it through the lens of current events. Do you think the book reads differently now than you imagined it?

OATES: Well, what you're saying is so, so true. And when I was working on it, I remember being so immersed in that world, which of course is 1999 and 2000, early 2000. And no, I had no idea what we were moving toward.

My novel deals with the sort of grassroots resentment⁹ of elite¹⁰, you know, Washington people and just a kind of somehow very deep, visceral hatred¹¹ of the liberal imagination, which is usually secular¹². So the novel is suffused¹³ with the kind of emotions that all came out in the election and really brought us to this populist demagogue Trump.

SHAPIRO: For the first more than a hundred pages of this book, we really only see the world through the eyes of Luther Dunphy, the man who kills the doctor who performs abortions. We experience his childhood, his struggles, his inner thoughts. It almost feels as though you want to force the reader to see this man as more than an extremist, somebody who you cannot simply just dismiss. Why did you begin the book this way?

OATES: Well, Luther's very sympathetic. It's a point of view that's not mine. It's not my point of view, but it's a very real point of view. Luther feels he's called. He's called by God. He doesn't want to be a murderer. He doesn't want to give up his own life. He feels he's been called by God, and it's a mission.

Some people may feel they're called in another way, a secular way, to be an abortion⁴ provider. Some people feel this yearning¹⁴ to be of help and use in the world. Some people are explorers. Some people are mathematicians¹⁵. But there are people who feel that they want to serve God and God has chosen them. So Luther feels that way, but I wouldn't say he was that unusual. What's unusual about him is that he had that determination and you could call it courage to follow through his convictions.

SHAPIRO: I can imagine many people bristling¹⁶ at that word - courage - to describe a killer. And to particularly hear that word used by someone such as yourself who is so open about your liberal politics is interesting and kind of surprising.

OATES: Well, I don't know what other word to use. He doesn't want to be the person who's called by God. Now, there are abortion-provider murderers who did feel called by God. They are what we would call deluded¹⁷. So Luther - we would call Luther a deluded person. So I don't know. Maybe put quotation¹⁸ marks around the word courage. What is the word?

SHAPIRO: There is a section of the novel that is almost like an incantation. It is two full pages, more or less, of why women and girls who do not believe in abortion choose to get one anyway. Will you just read a part of this?

OATES: (Reading) Because I can't let anyone know that I am pregnant, Doctor Voorhees. Because they would hate me forever; they would never forgive me for shaming them. Because I am not able to have this baby. Because I am old, too old. I have had my babies. I can't have anymore. I think I will die. I am so tired. Because I will lose my job because I can't commute¹⁹ 90 minutes a day if I am pregnant. If I have another baby, I will lose my job. I can't afford to lose my job. I will be evicted²⁰. Because the father would kill me if he knew. Because the father is married. Because my parents would be disgusted. Because my father would never speak to me again - so ashamed in the eyes of the church and our neighbors. Because I am too young. Because I want to finish school. Because I don't know how this happened; I did not want it to happen.

SHAPIRO: And the list goes on and on and on. This is just the beginning of it. Where did this litany come from?

OATES: Well, from life I suppose. So these are just the voices of distraught women and girls. And men just don't have this experience of being frantic²¹ and desperate.

SHAPIRO: Well, Joyce Carol Oates, it's been great talking with you. Thank you so much.

OATES: Thank you.

SHAPIRO: Joyce Carol Oates' new novel is called "A Book Of American Martyrs."

(SOUNDBITE OF THE SHINS SONG, "PINK BULLETS")

1 relevance   

n.中肯，适当，关联，相关性

参考例句：

• Politicians' private lives have no relevance to their public roles.政治家的私生活与他们的公众角色不相关。
• Her ideas have lost all relevance to the modern world.她的想法与现代社会完全脱节。

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网

4 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

5 rippling   

起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的

参考例句：

• I could see the dawn breeze rippling the shining water. 我能看见黎明的微风在波光粼粼的水面上吹出道道涟漪。
• The pool rippling was caused by the waving of the reeds. 池塘里的潺潺声是芦苇摇动时引起的。

6 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

7 martyrs   

n.martyr的复数形式；烈士( martyr的名词复数 )；殉道者；殉教者；乞怜者（向人诉苦以博取同情）

参考例句：

• the early Christian martyrs 早期基督教殉道者
• They paid their respects to the revolutionary martyrs. 他们向革命烈士致哀。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

9 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

10 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

11 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

12 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

13 suffused   

v.（指颜色、水气等）弥漫于，布满( suffuse的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her face was suffused with colour. 她满脸通红。
• Her eyes were suffused with warm, excited tears. 她激动地热泪盈眶。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

14 yearning   

a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的

参考例句：

• a yearning for a quiet life 对宁静生活的向往
• He felt a great yearning after his old job. 他对过去的工作有一种强烈的渴想。

15 mathematicians   

数学家( mathematician的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Do you suppose our mathematicians are unequal to that? 你以为我们的数学家做不到这一点吗？ 来自英汉文学
• Mathematicians can solve problems with two variables. 数学家们可以用两个变数来解决问题。 来自哲学部分

16 bristling   

a.竖立的

参考例句：

• "Don't you question Miz Wilkes' word,'said Archie, his beard bristling. "威尔克斯太太的话，你就不必怀疑了。 "阿尔奇说。他的胡子也翘了起来。
• You were bristling just now. 你刚才在发毛。

17 deluded   

v.欺骗，哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Don't be deluded into thinking that we are out of danger yet. 不要误以为我们已脱离危险。
• She deluded everyone into following her. 她骗得每个人都听信她的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 quotation   

n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情

参考例句：

• He finished his speech with a quotation from Shakespeare.他讲话结束时引用了莎士比亚的语录。
• The quotation is omitted here.此处引文从略。

19 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

20 evicted   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• They had evicted their tenants for non-payment of rent. 他们赶走了未交房租的房客。

21 frantic   

adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的

参考例句：

• I've had a frantic rush to get my work done.我急急忙忙地赶完工作。
• He made frantic dash for the departing train.他发疯似地冲向正开出的火车。