美国国家公共电台 NPR Téa Obreht's Latest Is Steeped In The Supernatural — Also, There Are Camels

Téa Obreht's Latest Is Steeped In The Supernatural — Also, There Are Camels

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

When writer Tea Obreht's first book, "The Tiger's Wife," came out in 2011, it was both critically adored and a book club favorite. Obreht's new novel, "Inland," is inspired by a little-known piece of history of the American West and tinged¹ with the supernatural. NPR's Lynn Neary has more.

LYNN NEARY, BYLINE²: It's different writing a second novel, says Tea Obreht. For one thing, there were no expectations the first time around.

TEA OBREHT: The things that I had learned writing the first book didn't necessarily really apply to the second one, kind of because there's a purity of feeling, I think, when you're writing for the first time where you don't really consider that there's going to be a human audience outside of, like, your mom (laughter) you know?

NEARY: Obreht was born in the former Yugoslavia. Her first book, "The Tiger's Wife," was set in the Balkans and steeped in its culture. But for her second novel, Obreht drew on the myths of the Old West.

OBREHT: I think that my understanding of it was - you know, it was rooted in this notion of the cowboy Western - right? - very white hat, black hat stories that framed this very, very narrow lens - a narrow but nevertheless incredibly powerful narrative³ of the West.

NEARY: To broaden her understanding, Obreht began doing research, which led her to a history podcast and a story about camels that the military used as pack animals in the Southwest Territories.

OBREHT: And then the podcast went on to talk about who came over and how the camels were brought over from the Ottoman Empire with drovers. And I just couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that I'd never heard of it before and especially considering I'd been doing all this other research and had never even brushed up against this story. And it really, really seized me.

NEARY: The book unfolds in two alternating stories. In one, an outlaw⁴ named Lurie comes across the Camel Corps⁵ while he's on the run from a deputy who's determined⁶ to see him hang. Lurie, who was brought to the U.S. from the Mideast as a child, finds it easy to hide among the camel drovers. He grows attached to them and to the camel he rides as he makes his way across the Southwest. In this excerpt⁷, Lurie sees the camels for the first time as they leave the ship that brought them to America.

OBREHT: (Reading) That's a horse, I told the old-timer, but no, not a horse after all. As those oarsmen pulled for the beach, a strange silhouette⁸ began to firm up - a snake neck and frowzy⁹ mane, a huge periscope¹⁰ head turning slowly this way and that, a tent peg¹¹ underbite, a drumlin back from which the morning wind raised a constant and ethereal fog, the dust of six months at sea.

NEARY: Lurie's tale alternates with Nora's, who lives on a farm in the Arizona Territory. A drought threatens the family's livelihood¹². Her husband has been gone too long in search of water. And she's been left alone with a young son and her husband's niece, both of whom believe that the property is being stalked by a demon¹³ animal. All of this, says Obreht, is leading Nora to question her decision to throw her fate in with her husband's many years ago.

OBREHT: As I wrote her, through my research, I became more and more conscious of the unbelievable difficulty of homesteading life, particularly for women who were dragged on these misadventures by husbands who often decided¹⁴ to, you know, stake up in the West on a whim¹⁵.

NEARY: Nora and Lurie seem fated to meet, though, through much of the book, their paths never cross. But they do share something in common - they both commune with the dead. Lurie can see them wandering around towns, sometimes making him do things against his will. Nora talks regularly with her daughter who died in infancy¹⁶. Nora imagines her all grown up. As a writer, Obreht says, she's drawn¹⁷ to that which cannot be explained.

OBREHT: The fantastical and the supernatural have held such an important role in human narrative since the beginning of stories. And I think that fundamentally we're always asking ourselves the same questions. You know, is the world made up only of what we see, or is it made up of the things that we believe? And I think to explore that on the page is a great pleasure and a great need for me.

NEARY: Obreht grounds the supernatural and the hard reality of pioneer life and packs her story with secrets and surprises. But perhaps nothing in it is more astonishing than the fact that camels once really did roam the American West. Lynn Neary, NPR News, Washington.

1 tinged   

v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• memories tinged with sadness 略带悲伤的往事
• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣

2 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。

3 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。

4 outlaw   

n.歹徒，亡命之徒；vt.宣布…为不合法

参考例句：

• The outlaw hid out in the hills for several months.逃犯在山里隐藏了几个月。
• The outlaw has been caught.歹徒已被抓住了。

5 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

6 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

7 excerpt   

n.摘录，选录，节录

参考例句：

• This is an excerpt from a novel.这是一部小说的摘录。
• Can you excerpt something from the newspaper? 你能从报纸上选录些东西吗？

8 silhouette   

n.黑色半身侧面影，影子，轮廓；v.描绘成侧面影，照出影子来，仅仅显出轮廓

参考例句：

• I could see its black silhouette against the evening sky.我能看到夜幕下它黑色的轮廓。
• I could see the silhouette of the woman in the pickup.我可以见到小卡车的女人黑色半身侧面影。

9 frowzy   

adj.不整洁的；污秽的

参考例句：

• The drowsy browser knits its brows to browbeat the frowzy crow.昏昏欲睡的吃草动物皱眉头恐吓邋遢的乌鸦。
• The frowzy street was disgusting.那条肮脏的街道令人作呕。

10 periscope   

n. 潜望镜

参考例句：

• The captain aligned the periscope on the bearing.船长使潜望镜对准方位。
• Now,peering through the periscope he remarked in businesslike tones.现在，他一面从潜望镜里观察，一面用精干踏实的口吻说话。

11 peg   

n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定

参考例句：

• Hang your overcoat on the peg in the hall.把你的大衣挂在门厅的挂衣钩上。
• He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet.他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。

12 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

13 demon   

n.魔鬼，恶魔

参考例句：

• The demon of greed ruined the miser's happiness.贪得无厌的恶习毁掉了那个守财奴的幸福。
• He has been possessed by the demon of disease for years.他多年来病魔缠身。

14 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

15 whim   

n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想

参考例句：

• I bought the encyclopedia on a whim.我凭一时的兴致买了这本百科全书。
• He had a sudden whim to go sailing today.今天他突然想要去航海。

16 infancy   

n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期

参考例句：

• He came to England in his infancy.他幼年时期来到英国。
• Their research is only in its infancy.他们的研究处于初级阶段。

17 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。