美国国家公共电台 NPR In 'Red Sky At Noon,' A Western On The Eastern Front

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Benya Golden is a Jewish Cossack. This is not a Mel Brooks¹ movie but a new novel. Benya Golden is a political prisoner in the gulag who is pressed into a kind of dirty dozen battalion² of horse riding Cossacks and convicts who detest³ Stalin but revile⁴ the Nazis⁵ even more. During 10 eventful, violent and wrenching⁶ days, the passionate⁷ lover of freedom also finds time to passionately⁸ romance a beautiful Italian nurse, while Papa Joe Stalin and the Kremlin frets⁹ over the invasion of Mother Russia, the siege of the city that bears his name and the romantic entanglements¹⁰ of his beloved daughter Svetlana. The novel - "Red Sky At Noon." And Simon Sebag Montefiore the historian and best-selling author joins us from London. Thanks so much for being with us.

SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE: Lovely to be with you.

SIMON: What does Benya Golden say, my name is nothing, my surname is nobody?

MONTEFIORE: That was almost the mantra of prisoners in the gulag camps because in the camps, you know, the politicals - as they were called, and Benya Golden was one of those - the less of a pulse they had, the less people could destroy them.

SIMON: I was surprised and, if I might put it this way, charmed that in the course of the novel, this Jewish man Benya Golden loves becoming a Cossack.

MONTEFIORE: Well, the Cossacks, of course, were the horsemen of the frontiers of czarist Russia who were often escaped serfs or peasants. And they became the enforcers of the czarist regime - the Romanovs. But after the Bolsheviks came to power, the Cossacks, who had been the most anti-Semitic and brutal¹¹ supporters of the Romanovs - some of them fought for the Bolsheviks. And they were known as the Red Cossacks.

SIMON: I was flabbergasted to read, I guess, in the - when you bring us up to the history in your novel - a lot of us think of horse-mounted cavalry¹² in World War II as the desperate French battalions¹³ hurdle¹⁴ in themselves against German tanks. But apparently¹⁵, there was a vast mounted-cavalry war between the Russians and Germans on the steppes of Russia.

MONTEFIORE: Well, this novel is really set in that cavalry war - you're absolute right. In 1942, the Germans were running out of fuel. They were advancing so fast across the grasslands¹⁶, the hot grasslands of South Russia. And the Russians were running out of tanks. And so both of them turned to cavalry. And, of course, when I read about this - I'm an enormous fan of American literature and specially¹⁷, you know, the great novels of Larry McMurtry - "Lonesome Dove."

SIMON: (Laughter).

MONTEFIORE: Cormac McCarthy. And suddenly, it occurred to me when I was reading - studying about this war in the grasslands of Russia - how similar it was. And in some ways, this is a western on the Eastern Front.

SIMON: Among the romances in this book, I must be said - is Benya Golden with his horse?

MONTEFIORE: Benya Golden and his horse Silver Socks. Silver Socks is the one person he can trust. He's in a penal¹⁸ battalion. And this is the story of these punishment battalions that Stalin set up. And they were full of criminals. They're murderers. They're cutthroats. And, you know, the only person he can trust, really, is his beautiful horse.

SIMON: How do we reconcile the monstrous¹⁹ Stalin from real life and history, responsible for killing²⁰ so many millions, including some of those closest to him, with the almost comically doting²¹ father he is to Svetlana?

MONTEFIORE: Well, the interesting thing about writing about dictators, whether it's Stalin or probably Kim Jong Un or whoever it is, is that if we turn them into absolute Frankenstein-like monsters, we learn nothing and understand nothing about how they come to power and how they operate. So yes, Stalin was an absolutely brutal dictator, especially in World War II. I mean, these poor punishment battalions were often used to clear minefields. And they just had to run across the minefield, for example.

But at the same time, he was a doting father who adored Svetlana, who was a pretty, freckled²², redhead girl who looked very like Stalin's mother. And he adored her until she stood up to him at a moment in World War II that I recount in the novel. So this is a story, in a way, of two love affairs. And at the very height of Soviet²³ society, you have the dictator's daughter. And down among in the depths of the punishment battalions, you have Benya Golden, who meets this Italian nurse. And, of course, the Italians were a huge presence in the Russian war. Again...

SIMON: Which I also didn't know.

MONTEFIORE: Yes.

SIMON: Apparently, tens of thousands of Italians lost their lives.

MONTEFIORE: Something like 100,000 to the more - even 150,000 did not come back. And, of course, none of them wanted to be there. They had no business being there. Mussolini sent them. And the bizarre thing is they were so Italian. Even in the middle of this brutal Russian war, they were constantly talking about pasta. All their code words were operas or wines or girls they were in love with. They remained unashamedly and charmingly Italian.

SIMON: Let me put to you, Mr. Montefiore, a question that somebody poses to Benya Golden when he determines to fight for the Red Army, Stalin's army against the Nazis. He's asked, why do you want to fight for the bastard²⁴?

MONTEFIORE: Yes. That's one of the sort of questions that many people in the Soviet Union asked themselves. And the answer was that Hitler was worse. I mean, first of all, he was a fascist²⁵. He was killing the Jews. And they were gradually learning about the Holocaust²⁶. And, also, he'd invaded the Russian motherland. So as a Russian and a Jew, Benya Golden was desperate to fight Hitler. And this is his story. I mean, it's also about, you know, human nature, courage and the redemptive nature of love itself.

SIMON: Simon Sebag Montefiore's novel - "Red Sky At Noon." Thanks so much for being with us.

MONTEFIORE: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF RAUJIKA'S "CITY OF TWILIGHT")

1 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 battalion   

n.营；部队；大队(的人)

参考例句：

• The town was garrisoned by a battalion.该镇由一营士兵驻守。
• At the end of the drill parade,the battalion fell out.操练之后，队伍解散了。

3 detest   

vt.痛恨，憎恶

参考例句：

• I detest people who tell lies.我恨说谎的人。
• The workers detest his overbearing manner.工人们很讨厌他那盛气凌人的态度。

4 revile   

v.辱骂，谩骂

参考例句：

• No man should reproach,revile,or slander another man.人们不应羞辱，辱骂或诽谤他人。|||Some Muslim communities in East Africa revile dogs because they believe that canines ate the body of the Prophet Muhammad.一些东非的穆斯林团体会辱骂狗，因为他们相信是它们吃了先知穆罕默德的尸体。

5 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 wrenching   

n.修截苗根，苗木铲根（铲根时苗木不起土或部分起土）v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的现在分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛

参考例句：

• China has been through a wrenching series of changes and experiments. 中国经历了一系列艰苦的变革和试验。 来自辞典例句
• A cold gust swept across her exposed breast, wrenching her back to reality. 一股寒气打击她的敞开的胸膛，把她从梦幻的境地中带了回来。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

7 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。

8 passionately   

ad.热烈地，激烈地

参考例句：

• She could hate as passionately as she could love. 她能恨得咬牙切齿，也能爱得一往情深。
• He was passionately addicted to pop music. 他酷爱流行音乐。

9 frets   

基质间片； 品丝（吉他等指板上定音的）( fret的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The river frets away the rocks along its banks. 河水侵蚀了两岸的岩石。
• She frets at even the slightest delays. 稍有延误她就不满。

10 entanglements   

n.瓜葛( entanglement的名词复数 )；牵连；纠缠；缠住

参考例句：

• Mr. White threaded his way through the legal entanglements. 怀特先生成功地解决了这些法律纠纷。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• At dawn we broke through the barbed wire entanglements under the city wall. 拂晓我们突破了城墙的铁丝网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

12 cavalry   

n.骑兵；轻装甲部队

参考例句：

• We were taken in flank by a troop of cavalry. 我们翼侧受到一队骑兵的袭击。
• The enemy cavalry rode our men down. 敌人的骑兵撞倒了我们的人。

13 battalions   

n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍

参考例句：

• God is always on the side of the strongest battalions. 上帝总是帮助强者。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Two battalions were disposed for an attack on the air base. 配置两个营的兵力进攻空军基地。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 hurdle   

n.跳栏，栏架；障碍，困难；vi.进行跨栏赛

参考例句：

• The weather will be the biggest hurdle so I have to be ready.天气将会是最大的障碍，所以我必须要作好准备。
• She clocked 11.6 seconds for the 80 metre hurdle.八十米跳栏赛跑她跑了十一秒六。

15 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

16 grasslands   

n.草原，牧场( grassland的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Songs were heard ringing loud and clear over the grasslands. 草原上扬起清亮激越的歌声。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Grasslands have been broken and planted to wheat. 草原已经开垦出来，种上了小麦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

18 penal   

adj.刑罚的；刑法上的

参考例句：

• I hope you're familiar with penal code.我希望你们熟悉本州法律规则。
• He underwent nineteen years of penal servitude for theft.他因犯了大窃案受过十九年的苦刑。

19 monstrous   

adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的

参考例句：

• The smoke began to whirl and grew into a monstrous column.浓烟开始盘旋上升，形成了一个巨大的烟柱。
• Your behaviour in class is monstrous!你在课堂上的行为真是丢人！

20 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。

21 doting   

adj.溺爱的，宠爱的

参考例句：

• His doting parents bought him his first racing bike at 13.宠爱他的父母在他13岁时就给他买了第一辆竞速自行车。
• The doting husband catered to his wife's every wish.这位宠爱妻子的丈夫总是高度满足太太的各项要求。

22 freckled   

adj.雀斑；斑点；晒斑；（使）生雀斑v.雀斑，斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her face was freckled all over. 她的脸长满雀斑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Her freckled skin glowed with health again. 她长有雀斑的皮肤又泛出了健康的红光。 来自辞典例句

23 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

24 bastard   

n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子

参考例句：

• He was never concerned about being born a bastard.他从不介意自己是私生子。
• There was supposed to be no way to get at the bastard.据说没有办法买通那个混蛋。

25 fascist   

adj.法西斯主义的；法西斯党的；n.法西斯主义者，法西斯分子

参考例句：

• The strikers were roughed up by the fascist cops.罢工工人遭到法西斯警察的殴打。
• They succeeded in overthrowing the fascist dictatorship.他们成功推翻了法西斯独裁统治。

26 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。