美国国家公共电台 NPR Author Alan Hollinghurst On Secret Affairs, Narrative Gaps And Writing Gay Sex

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Alan Hollinghurst is an English novelist who likes to explore private, secret lives. His characters are often gay men, sometimes living in an earlier era when they wouldn't use the word gay to describe themselves. Hollinghurst won the Man Booker Prize in 2004 for his novel "The Line Of Beauty." His new book is called "The Sparsholt Affair." It begins in Oxford¹ in 1940 when a bunch of college friends spot a young man through a window. He is David Sparsholt.

ALAN HOLLINGHURST: When we first meet him he is notably² handsome, muscular, with a very clear sense, unlike some of the students around him, of where he's headed.

SHAPIRO: He's headed off to fight in World War II. Over the five sections of this novel, the narrative³ jumps forward decades in time, eventually bringing us to London in 2012. Along the way, we watch British society change. We watch characters age and raise families. But there's a lot we don't see. Many of the most dramatic moments of the story happen between the sections off-screen.

HOLLINGHURST: Especially when you're selecting five episodes from a span of 70 years you have to be pretty careful in deciding early on what you're going to omit and what you're going to include. I mean, almost everything is left out of this kind of narrative. So the selection of what goes in has to be very careful.

SHAPIRO: Well, that was one of the things I noticed when I described this book to people. I described episodes that are not in the book, that take place between the sections, that the reader is left to imagine based on what happens when we rejoin the narrative.

HOLLINGHURST: Well, I'm delighted to hear you say that. I mean, this book and my previous one, "The Stranger's Child," they have a similar sort of five-part structure with sometimes very big gaps of time between the episodes. And it seems to me quite an interesting way of involving the reader imaginatively in the narrative. The reader at the beginning of a new section will be plunged⁴ into a new place, a new time, and will probably take a few pages to get their bearings. So I'm pleased you sort of say that your own imagination has been working overtime⁵ to fill up the gaps.

SHAPIRO: Why did you choose to write that way? In some of your other novels - I'm thinking, for example, "The Swimming Pool Library" - you take us deep into intimate, private scenes that other authors might gloss⁶ over. In this one you let actions happen off-stage often.

HOLLINGHURST: I think that's right. I've got more and more interested in writing narratives⁷ which are affected⁸ by major things. I mean, in "The Stranger's Child" the first world war happened between two of the sections, and in this one most of the second world war happens between two of the sections. And I think essentially⁹ these are things which I'm not all that interested in describing. What I am interested in is the effects of these major things. And, you know, they're not necessarily just wars. They might be large social changes or legal changes which particularly affect this book.

SHAPIRO: 1967 was a key year in the United Kingdom. That's the year that homosexuality was decriminalized. You were born in 1954, if I'm correct.

HOLLINGHURST: That's right.

SHAPIRO: And so you were 13 when homosexuality was decriminalized in Britain.

HOLLINGHURST: Yeah.

SHAPIRO: Do you think about how your life would have been different had you been born 10 years earlier or 10 years later?

HOLLINGHURST: I don't think about it much. But I suppose in a way I'm thinking about it in a book like this. And Johnny Sparsholt, David Sparsholt's son, yes, who is, I think, sort of two years older than me is sort of passing through a similar trajectory¹⁰ of social change. I mean, I do think that this is something that I've written about since my first book, "The Swimming Pool Library," the way that the young gay people in the present have little idea of the history of their kind, as it were, and that it's hard for them to imagine the struggles and the demands of more difficult early periods.

SHAPIRO: There's this amazing arc from the darkness of the blackouts in World War II where people are having affairs in private to, by the end of the book, people using meetup apps and having sex with people they barely know via these digital tools. But boy, it also feels like something is lost. Do you find yourself at all nostalgic for that age of secrecy¹¹ and romance even though it also meant oppression and persecution¹²?

HOLLINGHURST: Well, I would infinitely¹³ rather live in the sort of liberated¹⁴ present. But from the point of view of the writer, I do think that that earlier period is much more rewarding and fascinating to write about because of the secrecy, the private codes of behavior, the sense of attendant risk, danger that comes from pursuing something illegal. And if everything is out in the open, the sort of things that I like exploring - the nuances of concealment¹⁵, sort of people not actually quite able to say or do what they mean - are lost. And I don't mean that the present can't be written about, but I think there's a general nostalgia¹⁶ amongst a lot of writers for the period before smartphones.

SHAPIRO: I have heard people use a shorthand to describe your work which I hope does not offend you, which is that you made gay sex literary. (Laughter) And...

HOLLINGHURST: (Laughter).

SHAPIRO: ...I mean, the Guardian¹⁷ newspaper also called you the greatest prose stylist writing in English today, so we...

HOLLINGHURST: That's something.

SHAPIRO: ...Want to give credit where credit is due. But I wonder how you feel about that characterization.

HOLLINGHURST: I don't want to play my own trumpet¹⁸, but I think it hadn't - gay sex hadn't been written about much in a literary way before the '80s. And, I mean, it was one of the fascinating things to me in writing my first book, "The Swimming Pool Library," which came out 21 years after the decriminalization, to find that this whole area of human experience had barely been covered in a sort of literary way. So I thought I had this thrilling new opportunity to explore this area, and I did so with some gusto.

SHAPIRO: (Laughter).

HOLLINGHURST: And so I - you know, having done it, I think I've sort of tapered¹⁹ off, rather, and there's not nearly so much kind of in-your-face sexual activity in my later books.

SHAPIRO: One of the things that changes over time is the way people self-identify. In the 1940s, you have men who long for other men, maybe sleep with them, but don't necessarily identify as gay. And it's very different in the 21st century. How do you think about the way people categorize themselves and the way it changes over time?

HOLLINGHURST: Yes. I mean, I think you could say the opposite, too, that definitions of sexuality are now becoming much more fluid. And I'm very struck particularly amongst younger people I know have - there are some who declare themselves to be nonbinary. And I think I myself have felt more interested in writing not to categorize homosexuality but to explore it. So there's a lot of sort of sexual ambiguity²⁰ in my last couple of books in particular and bisexual characters. And I've written quite a lot of books about gay men. And I feel much more drawn²¹ now to this more ambivalent²² territory of sexuality.

SHAPIRO: Well, Alan Hollinghurst, it's been a pleasure talking with you. Thanks so much for joining us.

HOLLINGHURST: Thank you.

SHAPIRO: His new novel is called "The Sparsholt Affair."

(SOUNDBITE OF TREMOR'S "CARACOL")

1 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

2 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

3 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。

4 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

5 overtime   

adj.超时的，加班的；adv.加班地

参考例句：

• They are working overtime to finish the work.为了完成任务他们正在加班加点地工作。
• He was paid for the overtime he worked.他领到了加班费。

6 gloss   

n.光泽，光滑；虚饰；注释；vt.加光泽于；掩饰

参考例句：

• John tried in vain to gloss over his faults.约翰极力想掩饰自己的缺点，但是没有用。
• She rubbed up the silver plates to a high gloss.她把银盘擦得很亮。

7 narratives   

记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分

参考例句：

• Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives, is still a great beginning. 结婚一向是许多小说的终点，然而也是一个伟大的开始。
• This is one of the narratives that children are fond of. 这是孩子们喜欢的故事之一。

8 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

9 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。

10 trajectory   

n.弹道，轨道

参考例句：

• It is not difficult to sketch the subsequent trajectory.很容易描绘出它们最终的轨迹。
• The path followed by a projectile is called its trajectory.抛物体所循的路径称为它的轨道。

11 secrecy   

n.秘密，保密，隐蔽

参考例句：

• All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
• Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。

12 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

13 infinitely   

adv.无限地，无穷地

参考例句：

• There is an infinitely bright future ahead of us.我们有无限光明的前途。
• The universe is infinitely large.宇宙是无限大的。

14 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。

15 concealment   

n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒

参考例句：

• the concealment of crime 对罪行的隐瞒
• Stay in concealment until the danger has passed. 把自己藏起来，待危险过去后再出来。

16 nostalgia   

n.怀乡病，留恋过去，怀旧

参考例句：

• He might be influenced by nostalgia for his happy youth.也许是对年轻时幸福时光的怀恋影响了他。
• I was filled with nostalgia by hearing my favourite old song.我听到这首喜爱的旧歌，心中充满了怀旧之情。

17 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

18 trumpet   

n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘

参考例句：

• He plays the violin, but I play the trumpet.他拉提琴，我吹喇叭。
• The trumpet sounded for battle.战斗的号角吹响了。

19 tapered   

adj. 锥形的，尖削的，楔形的，渐缩的，斜的 动词taper的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The tail tapered to a rounded tip. 尾部越来越细，最后成了个圆尖。
• The organization tapered off in about half a year. 那个组织大约半年内就逐渐消失了。

20 ambiguity   

n.模棱两可；意义不明确

参考例句：

• The telegram was misunderstood because of its ambiguity.由于电文意义不明确而造成了误解。
• Her answer was above all ambiguity.她的回答毫不含糊。

21 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

22 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。