美国国家公共电台 NPR David Means, Defender Of The Short Story, On His 'Instructions For A Funeral'

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Writer David Means is a defender¹ and enthusiast² of the short story. He says you can't just stretch one out to make a novel. His new collection of stories, his fifth, is called "Instructions For A Funeral." It includes a wide range of characters, times and locations from a 1930s FBI sting in Kansas to an exploration of how Raymond Carver and Kurt Cobain may intersect. And quite a few deal with the tensions and joys of family.

When we spoke³, I asked David Means about the first story, called "Confessions," and whether it was meant as the author's note to introduce the book or if it was the voice of another character altogether.

DAVID MEANS: Both I think. I think - I don't really believe it's me, but I did realize that it sounds like it could be me. So I'm being cagey. I'm going to hedge my bets and say it's not me, but it's also sort of me.

CORNISH: Well, either way, it's a writer, and he says some interesting things. And one of the things he says is that each story is an expression of a particular axe⁵ I must grind...

MEANS: Yes.

CORNISH: ...Which really is a confession⁴. I talk to so many authors who say, like, this is not about me; these are the characters.

MEANS: You know, this energy for telling a story comes from things that bother us or the things that are causing pain. And we tell each other stories, and we tell ourselves stories. And they come out of moments of usually anguish⁶ and problems.

CORNISH: A lot of these stories in "Instructions For A Funeral" have to do with fatherhood.

MEANS: Yes.

CORNISH: Where are you now in your fatherhood journey, so to speak? You said that you were raising twins.

MEANS: Now I'm in the whatever - stage B. That's when they're out of college. My daughter's getting married in May. And I'm finding that parenting just doesn't end. It shifts gears, and it changes forms, but your parental⁷ duties are just always there.

CORNISH: And I remember in one of the stories, one of the characters talks about a kind of just-in-time wisdom that happens...

(LAUGHTER)

CORNISH: ...With parenting.

MEANS: Yeah, you - it's interesting because you live vicariously through your kids, and it's incredibly emotional. And I found myself isolated⁸ and also double-questioning every move I made. And there was never the right answer, and everything felt kind of wrong at some level.

CORNISH: So we can talk about this now.

MEANS: Yes.

CORNISH: Your kids went to college. They're successful. They are successfully launched. So now we can get into the terror (laughter) that you describe of watching them grow up or these characters experiencing fatherhood in this way. And there's one story in particular called "The Chair." And I want to just have a moment where we can read a section of that where this father is describing what love is.

MEANS: Sure. (Reading) Love isn't in the actual grab and heft of body when he comes out of school and runs into my arms crying with glee. No, love is the moment just as he comes out of the schoolhouse door, standing⁹ amid his friends and searches for my eyes. Love is in the second he sees me and I see him dressed in one of his outrageous¹⁰ outfits¹¹ - bright, startling coats; weird¹³ hats; drooping¹⁴, strange pants. That's what love is I thought each time I went to school to pick him up. Then as I lifted him and felt his weight, the purity of the moment vanished, and I would smell the stale, tart¹² odor under his collar while he smelled, I suppose, the smoke and coffee on my breath and something else that later at some point perhaps even in memory he would recognize as the first hints of decay.

CORNISH: I think that your writing is incredibly vivid in terms of depicting¹⁵ the kind of emotions you can have as a parent in very quiet moments. And over the years, had you collected kind of notes or scraps¹⁶ of writing, things that you thought one day might be stories that kind of contributed to this?

MEANS: Yeah. I was at home for a number of years as an at-home father. I think the whole process of being at home with the kids and all that hair brushing and all of the little needs - I had to wait a few years before I could process it all and have enough distance to see what was really going on at the time or at least to imagine what was going on at the time.

CORNISH: And we should say the plot of this story is this child is running down a hill and running very quickly, and the parent is following. And you feel that terror of, like, the kid is exuberant¹⁷ and enjoying this run (laughter). And you're...

MEANS: Right.

CORNISH: ...Just like, this is going to a dangerous place; please stop - and all the emotions you feel when your child is kind of teetering on the edge of danger.

MEANS: Yeah, and how much discipline do I give? How much freedom do I give? What happens if I don't give them enough freedom to learn what they need to learn and how to navigate¹⁸ the world and all of those complex things that are going on in a parent's mind at the minute-by-minute, you know, on-the-ground parenting thing?

CORNISH: When you look back at that now, when you were writing these stories, how did it affect the way you thought about your own parents, your own father?

MEANS: Well, my father died about three years ago, and then my mother died in October.

CORNISH: Oh, I'm so sorry for your loss.

MEANS: Thank you. When my father died, I felt this grief but also this release as a storyteller to maybe go into material that covered the parenting ground. And so I think part of the fact that I'm going back to the parenting - you know, to being a younger parent is that my father died. And then you - everything shifts, and you reassess everything from a totally new perspective, and you realize that your parents, for all of their faults, did this incredible job in just getting you through to where you are now.

CORNISH: It sort of brings into relief the title of the book, which is "Instructions For A Funeral."

MEANS: Well, that actually came because I was walking around always sort of thinking, you know, what would - after my dad's funeral, I was thinking, you know, what do I want at my funeral? The story has nothing to do with that really, but I took that energy - that narrative¹⁹ energy, and I used it to write a story.

CORNISH: And actually kind of a funny story...

(LAUGHTER)

CORNISH: ...Listening to the character with his bulleted list of what he wants.

MEANS: He's in a protective mode, and he's defending himself. And he's trying to control the narrative that might come if he ever gets killed. And there's a sort of feeling that he might because he's been involved with the Mafia. So it's a funny dynamic.

CORNISH: I think we all do that, right? You don't have to be a character in a book who's dealing²⁰ with the Mafia to feel like you're trying to be in control of your narrative.

MEANS: At some level, we should be at least aware that we are going to die. And I think we stop every now and then - at least some of us do - and reassess and say, OK, what have I done with my life, and what kind of narrative is going to be told when I'm gone?

CORNISH: How are you feeling so far about yours?

MEANS: I have mixed reviews. I think...

(LAUGHTER)

CORNISH: That's a perfect answer.

MEANS: Three stars, I think, so far. I'm shooting for five stars, but no one can do that.

CORNISH: David Means - his new collection of stories is called "Instructions For A Funeral." Thank you for speaking with us.

MEANS: Thank you, Audie.

1 defender   

n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人

参考例句：

• He shouldered off a defender and shot at goal.他用肩膀挡开防守队员，然后射门。
• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。

2 enthusiast   

n.热心人，热衷者

参考例句：

• He is an enthusiast about politics.他是个热衷于政治的人。
• He was an enthusiast and loved to evoke enthusiasm in others.他是一个激情昂扬的人，也热中于唤起他人心中的激情。

3 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。

4 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

5 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

6 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

7 parental   

adj.父母的；父的；母的

参考例句：

• He encourages parental involvement in the running of school.他鼓励学生家长参与学校的管理。
• Children always revolt against parental disciplines.孩子们总是反抗父母的管束。

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 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

11 outfits   

n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 )；一套服装；集体；组织v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He jobbed out the contract to a number of small outfits. 他把承包工程分包给许多小单位。 来自辞典例句
• Some cyclists carry repair outfits because they may have a puncture. 有些骑自行车的人带修理工具，因为他们车胎可能小孔。 来自辞典例句

12 tart   

adj.酸的；尖酸的，刻薄的；n.果馅饼；淫妇

参考例句：

• She was learning how to make a fruit tart in class.她正在课上学习如何制作水果馅饼。
• She replied in her usual tart and offhand way.她开口回答了，用她平常那种尖酸刻薄的声调随口说道。

13 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

14 drooping   

adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词

参考例句：

• The drooping willows are waving gently in the morning breeze. 晨风中垂柳袅袅。
• The branches of the drooping willows were swaying lightly. 垂柳轻飘飘地摆动。

15 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。

16 scraps   

油渣

参考例句：

• Don't litter up the floor with scraps of paper. 不要在地板上乱扔纸屑。
• A patchwork quilt is a good way of using up scraps of material. 做杂拼花布棉被是利用零碎布料的好办法。

17 exuberant   

adj.充满活力的；（植物）繁茂的

参考例句：

• Hothouse plants do not possess exuberant vitality.在温室里培养出来的东西，不会有强大的生命力。
• All those mother trees in the garden are exuberant.果园里的那些母树都长得十分茂盛。

18 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

19 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

20 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。