美国国家公共电台 NPR Tasting Food For The Führer At 'The Wolf's Table'

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The novel "At The Wolf's Table" begins with what sounds like a fine meal - string beans doused¹ with melted butter, roasted peppers, rice and peas, apple strudel for dessert. Opulent cuisine², really, for 1943 Germany, and Rosa Sauer is hungry. But she struggles to keep her meal in her stomach. She has to stay at the table, seated and squirming, for an hour. Rosa Sauer and nine other conscripted women are food tasters for the Fuhrer at Adolf Hitler's forest headquarters called the Wolf's Lair³. Rosella Postorino's international bestseller has been translated from Italian and published in English in the United States. She joins us from Rome. Thanks so much for being with us.

ROSELLA POSTORINO: Thank you. Hi.

SIMON: Tell us about the real person who - whose story set your mind in motion.

POSTORINO: Yeah. The story is inspired to a real story. That's the story of Margot Woelk. Four years ago, I was reading an Italian newspaper, and I found a brief article about Margot Woelk. That was a German woman. She was from Berlin. And for the first time in her life, she confessed that she had been, during World War II, one of Hitler's food tasters. And what was interesting to me was that she was not a Nazi⁴, but she risked her life every day, three times a day...

SIMON: Yeah.

POSTORINO: ...To save Hitler's life. So I wrote her a letter to ask if we could meet. But, in the same week, she died.

SIMON: She was in her 90s, right?

POSTORINO: Yeah. She confessed this secret at the end of her life. And I was very sad and upset because I couldn't meet her. And, at the beginning, I also thought that I couldn't write anything about her or her story because, you know, I'm not a German. I've never lived under a dictatorship. And so I thought that I hadn't the right to speak about her. But, at the same time, I feel obsessed⁵ by her story. What would I have done if I had been in her shoes?

SIMON: Yeah. Well, that question resounds⁶ throughout the novel. When we meet Rosa, she's got a husband, who's on the Eastern Front. She's living with her in-laws. What else could she do?

POSTORINO: Yeah. She can do anything. She lived in Berlin. Her house was destroyed by a bomb, and she was alone. And she decided⁷ to move to her parents' - in-laws' house. And they lived very close to the Wolf's Lair, one of Hitler's headquarters. And so one week after her arrival, she was recruited by SS to become one of Hitler's food tasters. And what is interesting to me is that she was, at the same time, a victim and a guilty person.

SIMON: Yeah. The - in the novel, the women who were the food tasters are told, eat up, wait an hour, live or die. That's not exactly buon appetito, is it?

POSTORINO: No, no.

SIMON: It's interesting. Hitler was convinced the British were out to poison him. I have read a lot of Winston Churchill biographies. And Churchill ate and particularly drank whatever he wanted.

POSTORINO: Yeah (laughter).

SIMON: So he didn't seem to think the Nazis⁸ were...

POSTORINO: He wasn't scared.

SIMON: Yeah. So why was Hitler so frightened? I mean, if the British could figure out a way, they would have. But there was no reason to think they were even close to poisoning him, was there?

POSTORINO: Yeah. But Hitler was paranoid. He was a neurotic⁹ person. He had problems in sleeping, had problems in trusting people. So he always thought he'd be killed, not only by his enemies but also by his friends. And so he was right.

SIMON: Rosa is there in the Wolf's Lair. And on her way to taste the Fuhrer's food, when the plot of German officers to assassinate¹⁰ him explodes, truly, but, of course, doesn't kill him, is that when she begins to wonder if she's on the right side of history?

POSTORINO: You know, in my novel, the story is told by an old Rosa. She's telling this story from a future, and she knows everything about the Reich. She has no alibi¹¹. And so the fact that she tells the story from this period allows me to represent, also, Rosa's conscience. And, probably, she - now she knows that she was at the bad part of the story.

SIMON: Did you like Rosa, your character?

POSTORINO: Yeah. I like her because she's very human, I think. This contradiction - I mean, the fact that she is victim and guilty at the same time is very human. I mean, this contradiction is typical of human beings in every era. I always choose characters that allow me to represent the ambivalence¹² of human behaviors.

SIMON: She says, at one point, the one thing I've learned from life is survival.

POSTORINO: Yeah. She survived. She's old. She was not killed by poison. She was not killed by Russian people. But, actually, she doesn't leave because she's always like if she was in prison. Prison is the memory of the traumatic experience of the war and of her absurd job, eating Hitler's food.

SIMON: Rosella Postorino - her novel "At The Wolf's Table." Thank you so much for being with us.

POSTORINO: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF FEVERKIN'S "CALENDAR PROJECT: JANUARY")

1 doused   

v.浇水在…上( douse的过去式和过去分词 )；熄灯[火]

参考例句：

• The car was doused in petrol and set alight. 这辆汽车被浇上汽油点燃了。
• He doused the lamp,and we made our way back to the house. 他把灯熄掉，我们就回到屋子里去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 cuisine   

n.烹调，烹饪法

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• This restaurant is renowned for its cuisine.这家餐馆以其精美的饭菜而闻名。

3 lair   

n.野兽的巢穴；躲藏处

参考例句：

• How can you catch tiger cubs without entering the tiger's lair?不入虎穴，焉得虎子？
• I retired to my lair,and wrote some letters.我回到自己的躲藏处，写了几封信。

4 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

5 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

6 resounds   

v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的第三人称单数 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音

参考例句：

• When the Christmas musical box, music resounds, Christmas old man swinging. 圣诞音乐盒，音乐响起时，圣诞老人会摆动。 来自互联网
• In the epilogue, the Silk Road resounds with the song of friendship. 尾声：丝绸之路上洋溢着友谊之歌。 来自互联网

7 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。

8 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》

9 neurotic   

adj.神经病的，神经过敏的；n.神经过敏者，神经病患者

参考例句：

• Nothing is more distracting than a neurotic boss. 没有什么比神经过敏的老板更恼人的了。
• There are also unpleasant brain effects such as anxiety and neurotic behaviour.也会对大脑产生不良影响，如焦虑和神经质的行为。

10 assassinate   

vt.暗杀，行刺，中伤

参考例句：

• The police exposed a criminal plot to assassinate the president.警方侦破了一个行刺总统的阴谋。
• A plot to assassinate the banker has been uncovered by the police.暗杀银行家的密谋被警方侦破了。

11 alibi   

n.某人当时不在犯罪现场的申辩或证明；借口

参考例句：

• Do you have any proof to substantiate your alibi? 你有证据表明你当时不在犯罪现场吗？
• The police are suspicious of his alibi because he already has a record.警方对他不在场的辩解表示怀疑，因为他已有前科。

12 ambivalence   

n.矛盾心理

参考例句：

• She viewed her daughter's education with ambivalence.她看待女儿的教育问题态度矛盾。
• She felt a certain ambivalence towards him.她对他的态度有些矛盾。