美国国家公共电台 NPR Lauren Groff's Literary Mission: Recovering A Lost Short Story Master

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

The writer Lauren Groff wants you to know she is on a rescue mission. The object of her efforts is also a writer named Nancy Hale. If you've never heard of Nancy Hale, that is precisely¹ the point. Hale published her first short story in The New Yorker when she was 21. In the three decades since her death in 1988, Hale has been almost entirely² forgotten. So Lauren Groff, who is a big Nancy Hale fan, took action. She has pulled together 25 of what she considers Hale's most important stories in a collection titled "Where The Light Falls."

I asked Groff, who you will know from her own short story collection "Florida" and her novel "Fates And Furies" - I asked her how Nancy Hale went from someone with dozens and dozens of stories in The New Yorker to someone we forgot about.

LAUREN GROFF: You know, I don't know definitively³. It's very hard to tell. I think part of it is that her stories are very quiet and very elegant, and she's possibly not fashionable at the moment - her style of writing. But I find her incredibly fascinating. She creates these lines that are full of a humming electricity. And her structures are so deep and so thoughtful that you don't really understand what you're reading until maybe a couple of days later when you realize exactly the craft that went into creating her short stories.

And they span the gamut⁴. Some of them are highly lyrical. Other ones are satirical and very funny. So we did put together this collection of 25 short stories. They're all interesting in their own way. And you can sort of see the development of a writer over the course of decades.

KELLY: Right. No, absolutely. You can feel - she's obviously, as you would expect, writing very different things than - in her later years than she was as a very young writer. How did you pick the stories that you landed on out of the many, many ones she wrote?

GROFF: Well, I know that my name is on the cover, but the Library of America was at least an equal partner, if not more. Reggie Hui there went into the archives, and he found every single short story she'd ever published in the most esoteric, small, little magazines. And John Kulka and Reggie and I had multiple really long debates and conversations about which stories to include. There were many passionate⁵ speeches on all sides, particularly mine. And we ended up with...

KELLY: (Laughter) Battles to the death, I'm gathering⁶. Yeah.

GROFF: ...Battles. Yes. It was bloody⁷, but it was also joyous⁸ because we're - all three of us - just super fans of Nancy Hale's.

KELLY: I mean, people always ask fiction writers - as you would know better than anyone - how much of your writing, how much of your protagonist⁹ is you. And writers always say, it's fiction. You know, I made it all up. But you write that with Hale, it's - it actually really matters to know what her life story was when you're reading these stories.

GROFF: You know, every story that a fiction writer writes has something of them in them. And I had to go through her story and sort of understand where they came from in her life. She wrote so close to the bone to her own life in many ways, and you can see herself in her characters in these stories - in a lot of them.

KELLY: All right. So let's get to some of the stuff she writes about because she writes about things that are uncomfortable to discuss today in 2019 - must have been incredibly edgy¹⁰ at the time she was writing some of these. She writes about mothers feeling ambivalent¹¹ about their children. She writes about how oppressive marriage can be. She writes beautifully about female desire. I actually wanted to let you read a little bit from one of her stories, titled "Midsummer."

GROFF: I love this story.

KELLY: I loved it, too. So we should set the stage. This is from the point of view of a teenage girl who is - how should we put it? - blossoming into her physical desires over one...

GROFF: She's lusting¹³.

KELLY: ...Long, hot summer.

GROFF: (Laughter) That's right.

KELLY: (Laughter) It's a story about lust¹².

All right. You can read.

GROFF: (Reading) They would ride through the hot, dim woods that sultry, ominous¹⁴ August from the hard ground, littered with spots of sifted¹⁵ sun, on the hills the horses would carry them in a minute to the hollows. There was something terrible about the hollows, deep-bottomed with decaying leaves, smelling of dead water and dark cleavage in insufferable heat. The sound of the horses' feet was like a confused heartbeat on the swampy¹⁶ ground. They both felt it. They used to get off the horses without having said a word and helplessly submerge themselves in each other's arms while the sweat ran down their backs under their shirts. They never talked there. They stood, swaying together, with their booted feet deep in the mulch, holding each other, hot and mystified in this green gloom. From far away in the upper meadows, they could always hear the cicada reaching an unbearable¹⁷ sharpened crescendo¹⁸.

KELLY: Lauren Groff, I think I'm fanning myself sitting there, listening to you read.

(LAUGHTER)

KELLY: I mean, you can feel the - just summer love and how dazed she is by desire. And she was writing this - we just looked - in 1934, when not a lot of women were writing this stuff.

GROFF: Absolutely.

KELLY: And she was very young.

GROFF: She was. She was. This was one of her earliest stories. I think it's maybe the third or fourth in the book. And it is the one where I saw that Nancy Hale herself - of future stories - sort of took full force of the stage, and she was really powerful in this story.

KELLY: Talk about one of the stories in here. "That Woman" is the title, which is all about Southern women and manners and sex.

GROFF: Right. So this is a very powerful story, also. And I think that this story is about the way that women devour¹⁹ their own, in some ways, and - particularly in small towns and in towns where sex is seen as a detriment²⁰.

KELLY: Yeah. There were a few stories in here that I did not love, and there was a moment where I was starting to question your judgment²¹ in pulling them all together, I will confess. And then I got to one titled "To The North," and it just knocked me out. I mean, it's about a boy and his summers on the beach and how he grows into a man. And his character is forming. It's fantastic if I - in my view. And I gather it's one of your favorites, as well.

GROFF: It is my very favorite in the book. But you know, also - so part of what our arguments were - were about showing sort of the larger artistic²² growth of a writer. And so I have to admit there are some stories in this that aren't my favorite, either, but they seemed important in terms of Nancy Hale as a round person and showing her work through time. "To The North" is exquisite²³. I just found it full of repressed longing²⁴.

KELLY: Yeah. I mean, I wonder to you, as someone who writes very well-received short stories, is it inspiring, or is it daunting²⁵ to come across somebody else who could write a short story that was pretty darn near perfect?

GROFF: Oh, it's inspiring always. This is one of the reasons why I wanted this book to come into the world. It's because, you know, there are so many brilliant writers now being forgotten. There's so many brilliant writers - contemporary writers who have not been given the platform they deserve. And the literary world is not zero sum, even though sometimes we are led to believe that it is. There's enough attention and enough love for everyone.

And I think that it's all of our duty, if we are given a certain amount of privilege, to say to readers, hey, look at this person you may not know. Please read this exquisite story, and I hope you will love Nancy Hale as much as I do. I hope you'll love other contemporary writers as much as I do.

KELLY: That is the author Lauren Groff talking about the new book "Where The Light Falls: Selected Stories Of Nancy Hale."

Lauren Groff, thanks so much. It was great to talk to you.

GROFF: Thank you.

1 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

2 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

3 definitively   

adv.决定性地，最后地

参考例句：

• None of the three super-states could be definitively conquered even by the other two in combination. 三个超级国家中的任何一国都不可能被任何两国的联盟所绝对打败。 来自英汉文学
• Therefore, nothing can ever be definitively proved with a photograph. 因此，没有什么可以明确了一张照片。 来自互联网

4 gamut   

n.全音阶，(一领域的)全部知识

参考例句：

• The exhibition runs the whole gamut of artistic styles.这次展览包括了所有艺术风格的作品。
• This poem runs the gamut of emotions from despair to joy.这首诗展现了从绝望到喜悦的感情历程。

5 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

6 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

7 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

8 joyous   

adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的

参考例句：

• The lively dance heightened the joyous atmosphere of the scene.轻快的舞蹈给这场戏渲染了欢乐气氛。
• They conveyed the joyous news to us soon.他们把这一佳音很快地传递给我们。

9 protagonist   

n.(思想观念的)倡导者；主角，主人公

参考例句：

• The protagonist reforms in the end and avoids his proper punishment.戏剧主角最后改过自新并避免了他应受的惩罚。
• He is the model for the protagonist in the play.剧本中的主人公就是以他为模特儿创作的！

10 edgy   

adj.不安的；易怒的

参考例句：

• She's been a bit edgy lately,waiting for the exam results.她正在等待考试结果，所以最近有些焦躁不安。
• He was nervous and edgy, still chain-smoking.他紧张不安，还在一根接一根地抽着烟。

11 ambivalent   

adj.含糊不定的；(态度等)矛盾的

参考例句：

• She remained ambivalent about her marriage.她对于自己的婚事仍然拿不定主意。
• Although she professed fear of the Russians,she seemed to have ambivalent feelings toward Philby himself.虽然她承认害怕俄国人，然而她似乎对菲尔比本人有一种矛盾的感情。

12 lust   

n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望

参考例句：

• He was filled with lust for power.他内心充满了对权力的渴望。
• Sensing the explorer's lust for gold, the chief wisely presented gold ornaments as gifts.酋长觉察出探险者们垂涎黄金的欲念，就聪明地把金饰品作为礼物赠送给他们。

13 lusting   

贪求（lust的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Is your husband lusting after the au pair? 你的丈夫是否正对来家打工的留学女生暗送秋波？
• He is lusting after you. 他在追求你。

14 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

15 sifted   

v.筛( sift的过去式和过去分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审

参考例句：

• She sifted through her papers to find the lost letter. 她仔细在文件中寻找那封丢失的信。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She sifted thistles through her thistle-sifter. 她用蓟筛筛蓟。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 swampy   

adj.沼泽的，湿地的

参考例句：

• Malaria is still rampant in some swampy regions.疟疾在一些沼泽地区仍很猖獗。
• An ox as grazing in a swampy meadow.一头牛在一块泥泞的草地上吃草。

17 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。

18 crescendo   

n.(音乐)渐强，高潮

参考例句：

• The gale reached its crescendo in the evening.狂风在晚上达到高潮。
• There was a crescendo of parliamentary and press criticism.来自议会和新闻界的批评越来越多。

19 devour   

v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷

参考例句：

• Larger fish devour the smaller ones.大鱼吃小鱼。
• Beauty is but a flower which wrinkle will devour.美只不过是一朵，终会被皱纹所吞噬。

20 detriment   

n.损害；损害物，造成损害的根源

参考例句：

• Smoking is a detriment to one's health.吸烟危害健康。
• His lack of education is a serious detriment to his career.他的未受教育对他的事业是一种严重的妨碍。

21 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

22 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

23 exquisite   

adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的

参考例句：

• I was admiring the exquisite workmanship in the mosaic.我当时正在欣赏镶嵌画的精致做工。
• I still remember the exquisite pleasure I experienced in Bali.我依然记得在巴厘岛所经历的那种剧烈的快感。

24 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

25 daunting   

adj.使人畏缩的

参考例句：

• They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
• Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。