2007年VOA标准英语-Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Latest Novel Remembe

By Carolyn Weaver¹
New York City
25 April 2007
 

Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's acclaimed² second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, tells the story of a devastating³ moment in Nigerian history, the short existence of the breakaway country of Biafra. VOA's Carolyn Weaver talked with Adichie and has this report.

"I grew up in the shadow of Biafra,” the 29-year-old author said in a recent interview. “I grew up knowing that Biafra was so central to my history, that the reason I hadn't known my grandfathers was because of Biafra."

Adichie's family is Igbo, the ethnic⁴ group in eastern Nigeria that founded Biafra in 1967, following massacres⁵ of Igbo by other ethnic groups. Half of a Yellow Sun -- the title refers to the emblem⁶ on the Biafran flag -- tells the story of the doomed⁷ republic's short life. Nigeria's war to reclaim⁸ Biafra included a blockade that caused the deaths of an estimated one million people, most from hunger or disease, including both of Adichie's grandfathers. She wasn't born then, but she says memories of that time are still very much alive.

Half of a Yellow Sun dramatizes Biafra’s brief existence, 1967-1970

"It's still very divisive,” Adichie said. “Sometimes you bring up Biafra, and immediately you're labeled a troublemaker⁹. Because it's something we all want to avoid, pretend didn't happen. So nobody talks about it, formally. In school we don't really get to learn anything about Biafra. There's still a lot of resentment¹⁰ in eastern Nigeria, which I think is to be expected."

The novel's cast of characters include Igbo people from all parts of Nigerian society -- from servants and villagers to professors and wealthy elites¹¹. It also has sympathetic characters from other major ethnic groups, including the Yoruba and Hausa peoples.

"I wanted to write a book that had sympathy for Biafra, which I do, and which I don't apologize for,” Adichie said, “but also which doesn't demonize the other side, because they were just as ordinary and human as the people in Biafra."

She also wanted to show the importance of class, she said. “Class determined¹² what Biafra meant to different people. And so for example, my parents, who really did go through awful experiences, didn’t suffer half as much as people who had nothing to start off with.”

Adichie’s parents were middle-class academics who lost all their possessions except for the car they fled in, she said. But they survived, and went back to their jobs in the university. Others died or simply vanished in the chaos¹³ of war and famine. Adichie said the book is a tribute to their suffering and lost history.

“I think Ugwu, who is the houseboy, is the soul of the book,” Adichie said. “He came from hearing stories of my mother’s houseboy during the war. My mother talked about how really indispensable he had been to her, and how wonderful he was. And I started to imagine him and his life. We don’t know what happened to him, and I wish we could find out. He left after the war and my parents didn’t hear from him.”

The point of view in Half of a Yellow Sun shifts among several main characters, including the wealthy Olanna and her servant Ugwu. Adichie read aloud a passage from the novel in which Ugwu witnesses a child killed in an air attack. 

"The evening they arrived, the sound of the antiaircraft guns cut through the refugee camp just before dusk. The mother ran out and held him, her only child, in a confused hug. The other women shook her roughly as the wa-wa-wa roar of the overhead planes came closer. Come to the bunker! Are you mad? Come to the bunker! The woman refused and stood there holding her son, shaking.

Ugwu still did not know why he had done what he did. Perhaps it was because Olanna had already grabbed Baby and run ahead of him and his hands were free. But he reached out and pulled the child from the woman's embrace and ran. The child was heavy then, still weighed something; his mother had no choice but to follow. The planes were strafing, and just before Ugwu shoved the child down into the bunker, a bullet flew closely past; he smelled rather than saw it, the acridness of hot metal.

 It was in the bunker playing in the damp soil that crawled with crickets and ants that the child had told Ugwe his name: Chidiebele or Chidiebube, he was not sure. But it was Chie-something. Perhaps Chidiebele, the more common name. The name almost sounded like a joke now. Chidiebele: God is merciful."

“I remember when I was writing it and often stopping to think that it really, it was really real,” Adichie said. “He could have been my cousin. And also just thinking about how people, how they went on, because life had to go on -- and the incredible courage of it. Because I don’t know if I had been alive then, if I would have had that sort of matter-of-factness.”

Half of a Yellow Sun garnered¹⁴ rave¹⁵ reviews and award nominations¹⁶ in Britain and the U.S., where it was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award for fiction. Now living in New Haven¹⁷, Connecticut, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is studying African history at Yale University. She says her next novel will be about Nigerian immigrants to the U.S. 

1 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

2 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

3 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

4 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

5 massacres   

大屠杀( massacre的名词复数 )； 惨败

参考例句：

• The time is past for guns and killings and massacres. 动不动就用枪、动不动就杀、大规模屠杀的时代已经过去了。 来自教父部分
• Numberless recent massacres were still vivid in their recollection. 近来那些不可胜数的屠杀，在他们的头脑中记忆犹新。

6 emblem   

n.象征，标志；徽章

参考例句：

• Her shirt has the company emblem on it.她的衬衫印有公司的标记。
• The eagle was an emblem of strength and courage.鹰是力量和勇气的象征。

7 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

8 reclaim   

v.要求归还，收回；开垦

参考例句：

• I have tried to reclaim my money without success.我没能把钱取回来。
• You must present this ticket when you reclaim your luggage.当你要取回行李时，必须出示这张票子。

9 troublemaker   

n.惹是生非者，闹事者，捣乱者

参考例句：

• I would hate you to think me a troublemaker.我不愿你认为我是个搬弄是非的人。
• Li Yang has always been a troublemaker.李阳总是制造麻烦。

10 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。

11 elites   

精华( elite的名词复数 )； 精锐； 上层集团； （统称）掌权人物

参考例句：

• The elites are by their nature a factor contributing to underdevelopment. 这些上层人物天生是助长欠发达的因素。
• Elites always detest gifted and nimble outsiders. 社会名流对天赋聪明、多才多艺的局外人一向嫌恶。

12 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。

13 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

14 garnered   

v.收集并（通常）贮藏（某物），取得，获得( garner的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Mr. Smith gradually garnered a national reputation as a financial expert. 史密斯先生逐渐赢得全国金融专家的声誉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals. 他的提议得到了广泛的支持。 来自辞典例句

15 rave   

vi.胡言乱语；热衷谈论；n.热情赞扬

参考例句：

• The drunkard began to rave again.这酒鬼又开始胡言乱语了。
• Now I understand why readers rave about this book.我现明白读者为何对这本书赞不绝口了。

16 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

17 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。