美国国家公共电台 NPR A Phone Call Changes Everything In Ann Tyler's 'Clock Dance'

 

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Anne Tyler's latest novel is about a woman in her 60s who married young, had two children and then is widowed young. She remarries and finds her life truly changed by a phone call that was probably made in error. But, of course, that does not make it a mistake. Her latest novel, her 21st, is called "Clock Dance." It has a saguaro cactus¹ on the cover. But Anne Tyler's novels almost always lead back to Baltimore, and that's where she was at member station WYPR when she spoke² to WEEKEND EDITION'S Scott Simon.

SCOTT SIMON, BYLINE³: What led to the creation in your imagination of this woman in her 60s - Willa Drake?

ANNE TYLER: Well, I think several things. First, I've been thinking about how we decide at certain points in our lives who to be, what kind of grown-up we're going to be, for instance, when we're children. And much of the novel is set at different points in her life, when she's 11, when she's 21, when she's 41, before it ends up at 61. And I think each of those moments is a sort of pivot⁴ for her in some way or another.

SIMON: Willa gets a phone call from a stranger one day saying I need your help. Now, she has every practical reason in the world to say, it's not me you want, right?

TYLER: Yes. She's a woman sort of at what she imagines to be the end of the road. Everything is settled. Nobody much needs her. She would love to have grandchildren, but that doesn't seem likely to happen. Her sons live far away, and it's a cool relationship. So of course she's just very vulnerable to this kind of thing of the person who calls literally⁵ says we will be waiting with our noses pressed to the window for you to get here and help out. How could you resist?

SIMON: We should explain. It's the next-door neighbor of a woman who was briefly⁶ involved with one of her sons.

TYLER: Yes, a very tenuous⁷ connection, and she has never met the woman. But the neighbor who calls imagines that she is the woman's mother-in-law, so that's how it all gets started.

SIMON: May I ask about your own childhood?

TYLER: Well, it was very isolated⁸. I was raised in something that people call a commune for a long time. And so I think that helped me, as a writer, look at things from a distance a little bit now when I look at the world.

SIMON: Quaker commune - and I was reminded of the phrase from Quaker Meeting in the world, but not of it.

TYLER: Oh, yes (laughter). I suppose that's still true in a way. It's funny - I left that commune when I was 11, but I really think the first 12 years of your life are the most important, and for me, the most clearly remembered. I swear almost every moment of those first years I remember.

SIMON: I'm trying to think - I cannot think of another novel I've read that let you know directly and bluntly widowhood is rough.

TYLER: Yes, it's unbearable⁹ basically.

SIMON: Yeah. And this is something you know in your own life.

TYLER: Yes. I remember when my husband died having the thought that Willa's father talks about when he was talking about his wife's death. I thought I don't know how I'm going to get through the rest of my life without him. And then, I thought well - OK, but at least right now I'm drinking this cup of coffee and it tastes good. It's a nice, sunny morning, and I'll just get through this. This is OK. I can do this. And I do think that most people who lose a wife or a husband stumble across that approach, too.

SIMON: You are as associated with Baltimore as much as I'm going to say Cal Ripken Jr., John Waters and Ira Glass (laughter). Three pretty...

TYLER: Oh, my - well, I'm in good company (laughter).

SIMON: So what are your books doing in Baltimore, Anne Tyler?

TYLER: Well, people don't know this, but in spite of its reputation, Baltimore is a very kind-hearted city. People are genuinely warm to each other. They mean well always. It's not what people imagine. And you learn this after you've been here a long while.

SIMON: I mean, 20, 21 novels set in Baltimore.

TYLER: Well, it also has a lot of color and grit¹⁰, we have to say.

SIMON: Yeah.

TYLER: Things going on in it that - I always wonder if I could set a novel in another city and have it be the same kind of writing. And I'm not sure I could.

SIMON: Well, you've won so many awards, the most respected one, save for the Nobel, and of course your name is often mentioned. Do awards mean anything to you?

TYLER: It sounds fake to say they don't. And, of course, I like to be noticed, but I - it's funny. It's all really about what you think yourself. You know, it's - a prize doesn't have much to do with whether I think the book deserved the prize or not.

SIMON: You were in your - I don't want to be ungallant, but, well, maybe you can...

TYLER: I'm 76.

SIMON: All right. God bless. Have two or three novels working?

TYLER: Well, I'm already writing a novel actually. I like to be writing a novel at least in the beginning stages when the latest novel is coming out because then that makes me not focus particularly on the reception of the latest novel. I'm thinking more about the story I'm telling myself right now - the new one.

SIMON: Oh, my gosh. Can you - you wouldn't want to broach¹¹ a sentence to describe that with us, would you?

TYLER: It's about a man who's an IT guy.

SIMON: (Laughter) Well, if there's anything less promising¹² than writing a book about a woman in her 60s, it's about an IT guy.

TYLER: (Laughter) Yeah, sometimes I think I might be challenging the reader actually (laughter).

SIMON: Anne Tyler, her novel, her 21st - "Clock Dance." Thanks so much for being with us.

TYLER: Oh, I enjoyed talking with you.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

WERTHEIMER: That was our own Scott Simon speaking with author Anne Tyler.

1 cactus   

n.仙人掌

参考例句：

• It was the first year that the cactus had produced flowers.这是这棵仙人掌第一年开花。
• The giant cactus is the vegetable skycraper.高大的仙人掌是植物界巨人。

2 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。

3 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。

4 pivot   

v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的

参考例句：

• She is the central pivot of creation and represents the feminine aspect in all things.她是创造的中心枢轴，表现出万物的女性面貌。
• If a spring is present,the hand wheel will pivot on the spring.如果有弹簧，手轮的枢轴会装在弹簧上。

5 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

6 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

7 tenuous   

adj.细薄的，稀薄的，空洞的

参考例句：

• He has a rather tenuous grasp of reality.他对现实认识很肤浅。
• The air ten miles above the earth is very tenuous.距离地面十公里的空气十分稀薄。

8 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

9 unbearable   

adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的

参考例句：

• It is unbearable to be always on thorns.老是处于焦虑不安的情况中是受不了的。
• The more he thought of it the more unbearable it became.他越想越觉得无法忍受。

10 grit   

n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关

参考例句：

• The soldiers showed that they had plenty of grit. 士兵们表现得很有勇气。
• I've got some grit in my shoe.我的鞋子里弄进了一些砂子。

11 broach   

v.开瓶，提出(题目)

参考例句：

• It's a good chance to broach the subject.这是开始提出那个问题的好机会。
• I thought I'd better broach the matter with my boss.我想我最好还是跟老板说一下这事。

12 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。