美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Moonglow' Shines A Light On Hidden Family History

'Moonglow' Shines A Light On Hidden Family History

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0006:55repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: 

"Moonglow," Michael Chabon's new novel, is like a moonshot to search for life before it can go dark. Mike, the narrator, goes to his grandfather on his deathbed where strong pain killers² crack open the stories the old man has kept under wraps for so long. The grandson can finally see his grandfather as a young man who was an unheralded hero of the OSS in World War II, an engineer who dreamed of the stars, a pool hustler, a lover and an unabashed felon³. "Moonglow" was the latest novel by the Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, essayist, screenwriter and lyric⁴ writer. One of the most acclaimed⁵ literary stylists in America, Michael Chabon joins us now from Berkeley, Calif.

Thanks so much for being with us, Michael.

MICHAEL CHABON: Oh, thank you, Scott. I'm very happy to be here.

SIMON: And to what degree is this your grandfather?

CHABON: (Laughter) The genesis of the story, in many ways, definitely lies with my actual grandmother - grandfather. I actually did spend a lot of time with my actual mother's actual father at the end of his life. He very much - like the grandfather in the book, he was lying in a rented hospital bed in my mother's house in Oakland, Calif. In terminal stages of cancer, he was on heavy painkillers⁶. And his mind wandered, and it wandered into the past. And he brought out a whole bunch of stories and anecdotes⁷ that I had never heard before.

And unlike the grandfather in my book, my actual grandfather was a big talker. He was not a taciturn man at all. He loved wordplay and language and told a lot of stories. And, you know, I probably figured at this point I'd heard all of his stories, I probably heard them all a couple of times. And yet, I was hearing all of these things I had never heard before. It really did strike me that there was so much more in there than I had ever bothered to wonder about. And of course, at this point, it was really too late to do anything about it.

SIMON: I know you were born in Washington, D.C., why does the grandfather in the book want to figure out a way to blow it up?

CHABON: (Laughter) I mean everybody feels that way....

CHABON: I was about to out - yeah...

CHABON: ...Sooner or later. (Laughter) The grandfather is a stickler⁸. He has a very efficient, methodical engineer's mind. So as a young soldier, with a little bit of a bloodthirsty nature, arriving in sleepy, somnolent⁹ Washington, D.C., that is in the middle of a war - it's after Pearl Harbor - but doesn't seem to really be shoring up its security leaks in the way that he feels is appropriate, he kind of evolves this elaborate fantasy about how - just how easy it would be for a small team of highly trained German commandos with a submarine to land not very far from Washington, D.C. and quickly subdue¹⁰ and conquer it in a matter of a few days. And he's so alarmed and terrified.

As soon - no sooner has he had sort of the relish¹¹ of conceiving this plan than he's afraid of it. And it seems too plausible¹² to him. And he reports it to his superiors, they don't do anything about it. And he's so enraged¹³ that nothing is done that then he decides to implement¹⁴ just one small portion of it, in play, essentially¹⁵. But, you know, he can't suffer fools, and he can't suffer incompetence¹⁶ and he can't suffer inefficiency¹⁷ and waste. And these things are both his blessing¹⁸ and his curse.

SIMON: One point he's hauled before William Donovan - Wild Bill - who we know, from history - head of the Office of Strategic Services. He looks at the grandfather of this book and says, one glance at you and I know the whole story. You've been looking for trouble all your life.

SIMON: Yeah.

SIMON: That could also be falling in love with the woman who is the grandmother of this book. And I developed a passion for his wife, too.

CHABON: (Laughter).

SIMON: Oh, my God. That's your grandmother. And this is on the verge¹⁹ of being highly improper²⁰. I'm sorry...

CHABON: I know, right? Exactly. No, it's a very weird²¹ feeling, I will say, to be writing - you know, are there certain, you know, scenes, there are love scenes in this book, and I'm writing them in the voice of the first person narrator. And he's saying things like, you know, my grandmother took off her dress. And those words, my grandmother, had this sort of, like, sacrosanct²² quality. And it felt very transgressive, I have to say, to be using my grandmother in a love scene.

SIMON: I'll bet. Well, moving on.

CHABON: Yes, absolutely. That's what attracts him to her. From the first - from their first meeting, he can sense the dangerousness around her. She is mentally unstable²³, she's very - her personality is very fluid. She has suffered trauma²⁴ that he doesn't really know anything about when they first meet, it had something to do with her experience during the war. It's that dangerousness, it's that sense that there's this kind of shadow over her. And, you know, the image of the moon with its light side and its dark side, and that image in particular of the dark side of the moon is a recurrent one in this book. And it's something that is part of him and it's part of her and it's part of their story together.

SIMON: He makes the most romantic promise to her.

CHABON: Yes, he does. He promises that he will take her away from all of this fury and blood and confusion. And take her to the peace and tranquility of the moon.

SIMON: Yeah, God bless. I want to end with this, if I can. You just recently wrote the loveliest appreciation²⁵ for your son who is passionate²⁶ about fashion.

CHABON: Yes.

SIMON: And as a father, I am touched by your awe²⁷ of him.

CHABON: (Laughter) Thank you. I think the hardest thing to do as a parent - I have two sons and two daughters, and this is equally true of my sons and daughters, the hardest thing to learn how to do as a parent is to get out of their way. And, you know, this kid made it a lot easier for me to know when to get out of his way.

SIMON: You went to Fashion Week together, and you wrote about it so beautifully in GQ.

CHABON: Yeah, exactly. And he just showed me that he was his own entity²⁸ in ways that, you know, I was not surprised by. And yet, the reality of it and - my own insufficiency - like, yes, I think I'm a good father, I do my best, I try my hardest. But there's some important, crucial, fundamental part of him that I can't be there for. I'm insufficient²⁹. And it's hard to accept, but somehow in in the way that he helped me to that was also in some way typical of him because he's very clear. He's not hard to - he's not enigmatic let's put it that way.

SIMON: Michael Chabon, his novel, "Moonglow." Thanks so much for being with us.

CHABON: Oh, my pleasure, Scott. I really enjoyed it. Thank you.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

3 felon   

n.重罪犯；adj.残忍的

参考例句：

• He's a convicted felon.他是个已定罪的重犯。
• Hitler's early "successes" were only the startling depredations of a resolute felon.希特勒的早期“胜利 ”，只不过是一个死心塌地的恶棍出人意料地抢掠得手而已。

4 lyric   

n.抒情诗，歌词；adj.抒情的

参考例句：

• This is a good example of Shelley's lyric poetry.这首诗是雪莱抒情诗的范例。
• His earlier work announced a lyric talent of the first order.他的早期作品显露了一流的抒情才华。

5 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

6 painkillers   

n.止痛药( painkiller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The doctor gave him some painkillers to ease the pain. 医生给了他一些止疼片以减缓疼痛。 来自辞典例句
• The primary painkillers - opiates, like OxyContin - are widely feared, misunderstood and underused. 人们对主要的镇痛药——如鸦片剂奥施康定——存在广泛的恐惧、误解，因此没有充分利用。 来自时文部分

7 anecdotes   

n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• amusing anecdotes about his brief career as an actor 关于他短暂演员生涯的趣闻逸事
• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman. 他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 stickler   

n.坚持细节之人

参考例句：

• She's a real stickler for etiquette,so you'd better ask her advice.她非常讲求礼节，所以你最好问她的意见。
• You will find Mrs. Carboy a stickler about trifles.您会发现卡博太太是个拘泥小节的人。

9 somnolent   

adj.想睡的，催眠的；adv.瞌睡地；昏昏欲睡地；使人瞌睡地

参考例句：

• The noise of the stream had a pleasantly somnolent effect.小河潺潺的流水声有宜人的催眠效果。
• The sedative makes people very somnolent.这种镇静剂会让人瞌睡。

10 subdue   

vt.制服，使顺从，征服；抑制，克制

参考例句：

• She tried to subdue her anger.她尽力压制自己的怒火。
• He forced himself to subdue and overcome his fears.他强迫自己克制并战胜恐惧心理。

11 relish   

n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味

参考例句：

• I have no relish for pop music.我对流行音乐不感兴趣。
• I relish the challenge of doing jobs that others turn down.我喜欢挑战别人拒绝做的工作。

12 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。

13 enraged   

使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤

参考例句：

• I was enraged to find they had disobeyed my orders. 发现他们违抗了我的命令，我极为恼火。
• The judge was enraged and stroke the table for several times. 大法官被气得连连拍案。

14 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

15 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

16 incompetence   

n.不胜任，不称职

参考例句：

• He was dismissed for incompetence. 他因不称职而被解雇。
• She felt she had been made a scapegoat for her boss's incompetence. 她觉得，本是老板无能，但她却成了替罪羊。

17 inefficiency   

n.无效率，无能；无效率事例

参考例句：

• Conflict between management and workers makes for inefficiency in the workplace. 资方与工人之间的冲突使得工厂生产效率很低。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This type of inefficiency arises because workers and management are ill-equipped. 出现此种低效率是因为工人与管理层都能力不足。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

19 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

20 improper   

adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的

参考例句：

• Short trousers are improper at a dance.舞会上穿短裤不成体统。
• Laughing and joking are improper at a funeral.葬礼时大笑和开玩笑是不合适的。

21 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。

22 sacrosanct   

adj.神圣不可侵犯的

参考例句：

• In India,the cow is a sacrosanct animal.牛在印度是神圣的动物。
• Philip Glass is ignorant of establishing an immutable, sacrosanct urtext.菲利普·格拉斯不屑于创立不变的、神圣的原始文本。

23 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

24 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

25 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

26 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。

27 awe   

n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧

参考例句：

• The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

28 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

29 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。