美国国家公共电台 NPR Author Attica Locke: In America, We Walk 'Side By Side' With Our Past

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Attica Locke's new novel "Bluebird, Bluebird" unfolds in rural East Texas along a stretch of U.S. Highway 59. As Locke writes, it's a thread on the map that ties together small towns like knots on a string.

ATTICA LOCKE: It is a highway that runs through the country. And you'll see along Highway 59 everything from huge cattle ranches¹ to women running beauty parlors² out of their trailers. You'll see black men selling barbecue. You'll see people with roadside stands selling boiled peanuts and peaches. And it's just a country highway and a road that, I think, for black folks', when you think about the great migration³ of people leaving Texas, that was the road North. That was the road to get out of Texas.

MARTIN: Attica Locke wanted to set her book in the sort of town they were leaving behind. She, herself, is a Texas native. And she knows those places because her own family's story was the flipside of the Great Migration. While others left, they stayed.

LOCKE: And we are defined by the fact that we stayed - that we said, no, Texas is ours, too. Other people can go. We will not judge you for going. But we're going to stay and fight. This is ours.

And people don't think about black Texans. When they think about Texas, they think of Marlboro man and the Southwest. And people don't think about East Texas and farmers. But I come from agrarian⁴ people. I come from people who farmed cotton and farmed corn on their own land. So I know this area. Its red dirt, I like to say, is in my veins⁵.

MARTIN: The story she tells takes place in a fictional⁶ town she calls Larke, Texas - one of those small towns along Highway 59 - a bayou to one side. One day, the body of a black man turns up in that water and three days later, another body - this one, a white woman. The state police detective hero of the novel finds that odd. Here's Attica Locke reading a passage from her book.

LOCKE: (Reading) Southern fables⁷ usually went the other way around - a white woman killed or harmed in some way, real or imagined, and then just like the moon follows the sun, a black man ends up dead.

MARTIN: Let's talk about the main character in this story. His name is Darren Mathews. He is a Texas Ranger⁸ - a proud Texas Ranger, as they are. But he went to law school in Chicago before his career in law enforcement. So he brings this perspective of both a native son and also sort of an outsider.

LOCKE: Yes. And I definitely meant Darren's ambivalence⁹ about his home state is a mirror for my own. And I also meant it to be a stand in for black folks ambivalence sometimes about where we fit in America. To what degree is this place truly our birthright? And to what degree can we afford to feel passionate¹⁰ patriotism¹¹ for a place that frequently shows us such disdain¹²?

MARTIN: How does Darren feel about where he is from?

LOCKE: I think he feels that it doesn't belong to its worst impulses - that the Aryan Brotherhood¹³ of Texas, that the Klan, that people who hold racist¹⁴ views don't get to decide what a state or a country is - that as long as he is present there too, as long as he is wearing a badge, there is a chance, there is hope that he can define the state as being a place that is fundamentally hospitable¹⁵ to black life.

MARTIN: And we don't want to give too much away of the narrative¹⁶. But he is - he finds himself in this town of Larke, and he ends up pursuing a mystery trying to solve two murders. And trust is such an issue, I mean, because he is this outside force. So immediately, there is distrust around him, even within the black community with whom he feels like there should be some immediate¹⁷ bond. They treat him with a certain amount of distrust. He's clearly treated with distrust by the white patriarchy that rules that town, yet he wears this star that commands so much significance in that place.

LOCKE: Yes. But I think, you know, the badge is this double-edged sword. The badge for the black folks in town is no different from the badge that a white ranger would wear - that black folks' uncomfortable relationship with law enforcement - it does not matter who's wearing it. And the badge then for the white folks in town - the badge on a black man is - can be kind of confusing. It doesn't quite fit the script or the stereotype¹⁸ of what law enforcement looks like to them.

MARTIN: Yeah. They don't know how to treat him. And this is where you're nuance¹⁹ with race in this book. I mean, you're tackling race from the big picture. It is infused in the very crimes that Darren is trying to solve. But then there are these moments where you slow things down in the mundane²⁰ details of how racism²¹ infuses everyday conversation. For example, just when someone will slip in the word boy when talking to Darren, who is a Texas Ranger, who is a grown man.

LOCKE: Yes. And Darren has to decide, which times do I call that out or which times it is in my best interest to let a single voice slide in order to get to the larger victory - the larger moral victory?

MARTIN: I was also struck by how the past is so present in this story and in this place. And it's the same feeling in our country right now when we see marches like the ones in Charlottesville and the debate over Confederate statues. It is like the line between our past and our present is blurring²². And that's what it felt reading this.

LOCKE: And, you know, what's crazy is I did not - I remember after Donald Trump²³ was elected - and I think I've been very public about my feelings about his administration. I remember thinking my book changed overnight. I'd already written it. But I knew without me having changed a word, the effect of this book was really different - that it was suddenly entering into a different marketplace, into a different country in some ways.

We walk side by side in America with our past. We walk with these ghosts. And I think I tried to capture the ways in which present day drama - racial drama is so deeply infused by the past.

MARTIN: Thanks so much for talking with us.

LOCKE: Thank you for having me.

MARTIN: That was Attica Locke. She is an award-winning author. She was also a writer and a producer on the hit TV show "Empire." Her latest novel is "Bluebird, Bluebird."

1 ranches   

大农场， （兼种果树，养鸡等的）大牧场( ranch的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They hauled feedlot manure from the ranches to fertilize their fields. 他们从牧场的饲养场拖走肥料去肥田。
• Many abandoned ranches are purchased or leased by other poultrymen. 许多被放弃的牧场会由其他家禽监主收买或租用。

2 parlors   

客厅( parlor的名词复数 )； 起居室； （旅馆中的）休息室； （通常用来构成合成词）店

参考例句：

• It had been a firm specializing in funeral parlors and parking lots. 它曾经是一个专门经营殡仪馆和停车场的公司。
• I walked, my eyes focused into the endless succession of barbershops, beauty parlors, confectioneries. 我走着，眼睛注视着那看不到头的、鳞次栉比的理发店、美容院、糖果店。

3 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

4 agrarian   

adj.土地的，农村的，农业的

参考例句：

• People are leaving an agrarian way of life to go to the city.人们正在放弃农业生活方式而转向城市。
• This was a feature of agrarian development in Britain.这是大不列颠土地所有制发展的一个特征。

5 veins   

n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理

参考例句：

• The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的，感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

7 fables   

n.寓言( fable的名词复数 )；神话，传说

参考例句：

• Some of Aesop's Fables are satires. 《伊索寓言》中有一些是讽刺作品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Little Mexican boys also breathe the American fables. 墨西哥族的小孩子对美国神话也都耳濡目染。 来自辞典例句

8 ranger   

n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员

参考例句：

• He was the head ranger of the national park.他曾是国家公园的首席看守员。
• He loved working as a ranger.他喜欢做护林人。

9 ambivalence   

n.矛盾心理

参考例句：

• She viewed her daughter's education with ambivalence.她看待女儿的教育问题态度矛盾。
• She felt a certain ambivalence towards him.她对他的态度有些矛盾。

10 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

11 patriotism   

n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• They obtained money under the false pretenses of patriotism.他们以虚伪的爱国主义为借口获得金钱。

12 disdain   

n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑

参考例句：

• Some people disdain labour.有些人轻视劳动。
• A great man should disdain flatterers.伟大的人物应鄙视献媚者。

13 brotherhood   

n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊

参考例句：

• They broke up the brotherhood.他们断绝了兄弟关系。
• They live and work together in complete equality and brotherhood.他们完全平等和兄弟般地在一起生活和工作。

14 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

15 hospitable   

adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的

参考例句：

• The man is very hospitable.He keeps open house for his friends and fellow-workers.那人十分好客，无论是他的朋友还是同事，他都盛情接待。
• The locals are hospitable and welcoming.当地人热情好客。

16 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。

17 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

18 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

19 nuance   

n.(意义、意见、颜色)细微差别

参考例句：

• These users will easily learn each nuance of the applications they use.这些用户会很快了解他们所使用程序的每一细微差别。
• I wish I hadn't become so conscious of every little nuance.我希望我不要变得这样去思索一切琐碎之事。

20 mundane   

adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的

参考例句：

• I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作，而不是一份平凡无奇的。
• I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的，即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。

21 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

22 blurring   

n.模糊，斑点甚多，（图像的）混乱v.（使）变模糊( blur的现在分词 )；（使）难以区分

参考例句：

• Retinal hemorrhage, and blurring of the optic dise cause visual disturbances. 视网膜出血及神经盘模糊等可导致视力障碍。 来自辞典例句
• In other ways the Bible limited Puritan writing, blurring and deadening the pages. 另一方面，圣经又限制了清教时期的作品，使它们显得晦涩沉闷。 来自辞典例句

23 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。