美国国家公共电台 NPR--Author Jason Reynolds on book bans, racism and Spiderman

Author Jason Reynolds on book bans, racism¹ and Spiderman

Transcript²

Award-winning author Jason Reynolds returns with a sequel to his young adult novel Miles Morales: Spider-Man. This one is called Miles Morales Suspended, and it continues the adventures of an "unassuming, everyday kid who just so happens to be Spider-Man."

In the sequel, Miles Morales — the half-Black, half-Puerto Rican teenage Spiderman — finds himself in school suspension for disagreeing with his history teacher. Morales goes to a fancy private school in Brooklyn, New York, where he doesn't always feel acknowledged. But with his superhero powers, he's invincible³.

Reynolds' book is directed toward a wide audience — part poetry, part prose, with illustrations throughout. It grapples with huge themes though: censorship in schools, racism and fear.

He spoke⁴ with Morning Edition's A Martinez about Morales' other teenage superpowers and obsessions⁵: writing poetry, and exploring his feelings about family, teachers, and a girl he likes.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

The cover of Miles Morales Suspended, the sequel to his first spider man novel.

Just because it doesn't touch your doorstep doesn't mean it doesn't touch anybody's doorstep. And it's not until it lands on your doorstep, right? When it lands on your doorstep, that would be the equivalent of that spider's web ... suddenly we're forced to acknowledge a thing that seems to be lurking⁶ in the shadows for some, and crawling up the wall for others. This whole book is sort of full of these entendres and sort of parallels with what's happening in Miles's world and what's happening in the world at large.

On the book as a response to censorship

I don't want to shy away from the fact that it is a response, but I wish it weren't. But when it came time to write this book, the only thing that I could think about was what's happening when it comes to censorship and banning and challenging of the books that so many of us write for young people. Specifically, for a lot of us, it doesn't always feel like you're banning the book itself. Sometimes it feels like you're banning the people that those books are about, that you're saying that those lives are lives that should only exist in the shadows.

A poem from Jason Reynolds' Miles Morales Suspended.

This idea of discovery, I think, has the highest sort of boiling point of potential for young people and is also the apex⁷ of fear for another set of people. For the folks, they who shall not be named ... some of these politicians, some of the terrified parents. I do think there is something to be questioned about: What's the fear of discovery? Why is everyone so afraid that a young person might discover something that feels true to them, that feels right to them, and that in making that discovery right, once they get even close to making that discovery, there is punishment enacted⁸.

This isn't a new thing, right? Once there is a new thing that is discovered, what comes your way is backlash, especially if at the end of that new thing is more freedom, more equity⁹, more peace, more intellectual capacity, more emotional maturity¹⁰, more openness, more scrutiny¹¹ when it comes to the things that we're supposed to see as real and honest and true.

On the real villain¹²: fear and blockades

I will say that for me — there are very few actual villainous people. There are people who make decisions that feel villainous, who do terrible things to people. But I don't know if there's a person who's all the way bad. Like, we can name a few offhand¹³, but I think most of us are somewhere in the gray. And so I like that the binary¹⁴ is always complicated for me when it comes to writing the hero in the villain story.

This idea that there is darkness, right? That fear is a villain. That if we can't get power, get out of our own way or get past our own stuff, then we'll create stuff that our young people can't get past. We'll put blockades there because the blockade makes it safer for me, who's also dealing¹⁵ with the same blockade. And I think all of those things are what creates that darkness in this story, but also in our society.

1 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。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 invincible   

adj.不可征服的，难以制服的

参考例句：

• This football team was once reputed to be invincible.这支足球队曾被誉为无敌的劲旅。
• The workers are invincible as long as they hold together.只要工人团结一致，他们就是不可战胜的。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 obsessions   

n.使人痴迷的人（或物）( obsession的名词复数 )；着魔；困扰

参考例句：

• 95% of patients know their obsessions are irrational. 95％的病人都知道他们的痴迷是不理智的。 来自辞典例句
• Too often you get caught in your own obsessions. 所以你时常会沉迷在某个电影里。 来自互联网

6 lurking   

潜在

参考例句：

• Why are you lurking around outside my house? 你在我房子外面鬼鬼祟祟的，想干什么？
• There is a suspicious man lurking in the shadows. 有一可疑的人躲在阴暗中。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 apex   

n.顶点，最高点

参考例句：

• He reached the apex of power in the early 1930s.他在三十年代初达到了权力的顶峰。
• His election to the presidency was the apex of his career.当选总统是他一生事业的顶峰。

8 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

9 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

10 maturity   

n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期

参考例句：

• These plants ought to reach maturity after five years.这些植物五年后就该长成了。
• This is the period at which the body attains maturity.这是身体发育成熟的时期。

11 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

12 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

13 offhand   

adj.临时，无准备的；随便，马虎的

参考例句：

• I can't answer your request offhand.我不能随便答复你的要求。
• I wouldn't want to say what I thought about it offhand.我不愿意随便说我关于这事的想法。

14 binary   

adj.二，双；二进制的；n.双(体)；联星

参考例句：

• Computers operate using binary numbers.计算机运行运用二进位制。
• Let us try converting the number itself to binary.我们试一试，把这个数本身变成二进制数。

15 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。