美国国家公共电台 NPR Howard Norman's 'My Darling Detective' Pays Homage To Film Noir

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Howard Norman's new novel is set in Halifax, Nova Scotia. At the core of the plot of "My Darling Detective" is a photograph and an auction¹.

HOWARD NORMAN: (Reading) The auction was held at 5 p.m. in the street-level drawing room of the Lord Nelson hotel here in Halifax. "Death On A Leipzig Balcony" by Robert Capa was the first item on the docket. The auctioneer had just said taken on April 18, 1945, when my mother, Nora Ives - married name Nora Ives Rigolet - walked almost casually² up the center aisle³ and flung an open jar of black ink at the photograph. I heard, no it can't be you. But it was my own voice already trying to refute the incident. My mother was tackled to the floor by the auctioneer's assistant. An octopus⁴ of ink sent tentacles⁵ down the glass. My mother was lifted roughly to her feet by two security guards and escorted from the room. And here I thought she was safely tucked away in Nova Scotia Rest Hospital across the harbor in Dartmouth, room 340.

SIEGEL: And from there we try to figure out the story of both mother and son, Jacob Rigolet. Howard Norman, welcome to the program.

NORMAN: Thank you.

SIEGEL: Your novel has been described as an homage⁶ to noirs. In film noir, one character says noir is noir and it's atmosphere that counts. How do you describe the atmosphere that we call noir?

NORMAN: One of my favorite writers, Akutagawa, who's famous for writing "Rashomon," has a letter in which he says what good is intelligence if you can't discover a useful melancholy⁷? So I consider noir about melancholy, an atmosphere of melancholy. I'm devoted⁸ to watching noirs of the classic sort. So in this book, I simply tried to create an atmosphere with some menace and some humor in equal measure.

SIEGEL: Now that I've read a few of your novels, I find that there are things that you return to in your writing. They're always fresh, but they're familiar. So I wanted to put to you a list of short-answer questions for a moment. What's so important to you about - and I'll start with first - birds?

NORMAN: Oh, I elevate birds to a theological level of regard. They are the spirit world to me. They also represent distance. And when I see a flock of geese, I sort of yell, take me with you. They're in all my books on some level.

SIEGEL: What is so important to you about photography?

NORMAN: Our daughter has become a wonderful black-and-white photographer. I find myself distracted by color in photographs, so I prefer the black and white. I think it's the starkness⁹. I think, again, it's the melancholy. And certainly, all the photographs in this novel do have a noirish quality.

SIEGEL: Libraries.

NORMAN: Well, librarians were my babysitters when I was young and...

SIEGEL: In Grand Rapids, Mich.

NORMAN: In Grand Rapids and in Toronto. And I just think they're the place of respite¹⁰ and quiet. And in this book, of course, it's the place where the narrator was born, in the Halifax free library. So I guess I've gone back as far as one could go with a character.

SIEGEL: Radio figures commonly in your stories.

NORMAN: Extremely important - these voices that are disconnected on some level and yet importing the world into a life in the most graphic¹¹ and oftentimes poetic¹² ways strikes me as, you know, almost spectral¹³ in a way. And I like to put those situations in my novels.

SIEGEL: And Canada - I mean, you are an American.

NORMAN: I am an American. I sort of feel my imagination has a dual¹⁴ citizenship¹⁵ in a way. I go to Nova Scotia. I travel around. I research in the archives. I eavesdrop¹⁶. I read everything I can. Then I come back to Vermont, and there's this displacement¹⁷ of the imagination. I'll sit in my writing cabin in Vermont but write about Nova Scotia, and that just seems to have worked for me.

SIEGEL: And in fact, I was curious about how you research things. In your novel "The Bird Artist," you name a village full of people. It's early 20th century Witless Bay, Newfoundland. Do you go to graveyards¹⁸ or birth registries?

NORMAN: Yes, a graveyard's one of my favorite places to go. I've confiscated¹⁹, if you will, a number of names from graveyards. I may be on a long search for an epitaph for myself someday. Yeah, there and registries, reading sermons in churches. It's a constant search. It's what the great haiku artist Basho called wandering scholarship. You just wander into places, take down names, take down dates, think about incidents that have happened, and eventually, the ones that stay with you longest might turn into fiction.

SIEGEL: Howard Norman, thank you very much for talking with us today.

NORMAN: My pleasure.

SIEGEL: Howard Norman's new novel is called "My Darling Detective."

(SOUNDBITE OF THE KNUX SONG, "CAPPUCCINO")

1 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

2 casually   

adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地

参考例句：

• She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
• I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。

3 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

4 octopus   

n.章鱼

参考例句：

• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。
• One octopus has eight tentacles.一条章鱼有八根触角。

5 tentacles   

n.触手( tentacle的名词复数 )；触角；触须；触毛

参考例句：

• Tentacles of fear closed around her body. 恐惧的阴影笼罩着她。
• Many molluscs have tentacles. 很多软体动物有触角。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 homage   

n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬

参考例句：

• We pay homage to the genius of Shakespeare.我们对莎士比亚的天才表示敬仰。
• The soldiers swore to pay their homage to the Queen.士兵们宣誓效忠于女王陛下。

7 melancholy   

n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• All at once he fell into a state of profound melancholy.他立即陷入无尽的忧思之中。
• He felt melancholy after he failed the exam.这次考试没通过，他感到很郁闷。

8 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

9 starkness   

参考例句：

• The starkness of their living conditions shocked him. 他们的生活条件一无所有，他感到十分震惊。
• I was struck by the starkness of my father's room. 我被父亲房间的简陋震惊了。

10 respite   

n.休息，中止，暂缓

参考例句：

• She was interrogated without respite for twenty-four hours.她被不间断地审问了二十四小时。
• Devaluation would only give the economy a brief respite.贬值只能让经济得到暂时的缓解。

11 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

12 poetic   

adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的

参考例句：

• His poetic idiom is stamped with expressions describing group feeling and thought.他的诗中的措辞往往带有描写群体感情和思想的印记。
• His poetic novels have gone through three different historical stages.他的诗情小说创作经历了三个不同的历史阶段。

13 spectral   

adj.幽灵的，鬼魂的

参考例句：

• At times he seems rather ordinary.At other times ethereal,perhaps even spectral.有时他好像很正常，有时又难以捉摸，甚至像个幽灵。
• She is compelling,spectral fascinating,an unforgettably unique performer.她极具吸引力，清幽如鬼魅，令人着迷，令人难忘，是个独具特色的演员。

14 dual   

adj.双的；二重的，二元的

参考例句：

• The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
• He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。

15 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

16 eavesdrop   

v.偷听，倾听

参考例句：

• He ensconced himself in the closet in order to eavesdrop.他藏在壁橱里，以便偷听。
• It is not polite to eavesdrop on the conversation of other people.偷听他人说话是很不礼貌的。

17 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。

18 graveyards   

墓地( graveyard的名词复数 )； 垃圾场； 废物堆积处； 收容所

参考例句：

• He takes a macabre interest in graveyards. 他那么留意墓地，令人毛骨悚然。
• "And northward there lie, in five graveyards, Calm forever under dewy green grass," 五陵北原上，万古青蒙蒙。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学

19 confiscated   

没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Their land was confiscated after the war. 他们的土地在战后被没收。
• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。