美国国家公共电台 NPR A 18th Century, Gender-Bending Mystery: What Did 'The Fox' Say?

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

"Confessions¹ Of The Fox" is a mystery story enrobed in a mystery. Dr. R. Voth is depressed² and dedicated³, a literary scholar recently discarded from a romance who has now, in his phrase, slipped off the map of the world. He slipped off to both certify⁴ and conceal⁵ a manuscript in his possession, dated 1724, that may tell the untold⁶ story of Jack⁷ Sheppard, legendary⁸ criminal who may have been born a woman but became the man who became a notorious and celebrated⁹ professional thief and jailbreak artist - and I do mean artist. Then the seeker of secrets himself becomes pursued.

"Confessions Of The Fox" is the debut¹⁰ novel of Jordy Rosenberg, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he teaches 18th-century literature and queer trans theory. He joins us from New York. Thanks so much for being with us.

JORDY ROSENBERG: Thanks for having me on.

SIMON: This is what they call speculative¹¹ fiction these days. But there was a Jack Sheppard, wasn't there?

ROSENBERG: There was a Jack Sheppard, and many of your listeners may know that Jack Sheppard was the 18th century's most famous British prison break artist. His exploits were chronicled in John Gay's "Beggar's Opera," which was performed throughout the 18th and 19th and 20th centuries. But in the 18th century, it had the longest run that any opera had had until that point. And then Brecht did a version of John Gay's "Beggar's Opera" called "The Threepenny Opera."

SIMON: So did you imagine or infer he was born as a woman who wanted to live as Jack?

ROSENBERG: That was a fully¹² speculative element, and really what I was trying to get at there was not this question about, like, the empirical case history of Jack Sheppard. Like, was he or was he not born a woman? But why is it that over the course of centuries, gender¹³ nonconformity gets represented as a form of deviance that is also connected with other forms of political resistance? And so you can think of it as a literalization of a metaphor¹⁴. And that's not an uncommon¹⁵ genre¹⁶ for speculative fiction these days. So you - I mean, these are not the same kind of novel in any way. But Colson Whitehead's incredible "Underground Railroad" is a literalization of a metaphor about the Underground Railroad.

SIMON: Yeah. Tell us, please, about Jack's relationship, his love for-with Bess Khan, a professional woman as used to be said.

ROSENBERG: In the source material from the period, Jack is actually connected to many different women. But over and over again, he's primarily connected to a woman who went by the name of or was given the name of Edgworth Bess, reputed to be a sex worker. And in that material, she was not represented in a very kindly¹⁷ way in the period. She was represented as kind of the person that lured¹⁸ Jack into a life of crime. And I was sort of interested in re-envisioning that, really just writing it as a love story, more of a feminist¹⁹ take where she isn't sort of this vixen that creates this perilous²⁰ path for Jack but that there's a kind of, like, consensual and jointly²¹ shared hatred²² of capitalism²³ that they embark²⁴ on together.

SIMON: I think you're a little overintellectualizing the feeling they have for each other, if you catch my drift.

ROSENBERG: Oh, my. OK, that may be - yes. The author may have that tendency.

SIMON: (Laughter) Speaking as a reader...

ROSENBERG: I'm - OK. I mean there is a - they're having a queer romance. One of the things that I wanted to be able to represent was the way in which something like a transgender identity isn't just the conceptualization of a single person in a vacuum but is something that really is crafted together very intimately and lovingly often between two people. And I think I'm trying to represent the labor²⁵ that Bess has to put in to doing that, so...

SIMON: I mean, in the interest of disclosure, this novel can be very graphic²⁶ about all kinds of things. Let me put it that way.

ROSENBERG: There's a lot of sex in it, if that's what you're saying.

SIMON: I guess, I am, yeah - and not just sex. I mean, 18th-century London was a pungent²⁷ place. Let me put it that way.

ROSENBERG: You know, people keep remarking on that. I just really like smell and I really like writing about scent²⁸, whether it's what's considered to be, like, a pleasurable scent like a bodily pleasurable scent, the scent of someone else's body, or whether it's the scent of streets.

SIMON: And Dr. Voth discovers that uncovering a story from the past has current hazards, doesn't he?

ROSENBERG: Yeah. So, I mean, obviously I wanted to play off some of the resonances²⁹ between the present and the past - right? - and the ways in which these things that we think of as sort of like imperial barbarism of the 18th century are really still with us. They just have taken different form and sometimes not so different form.

SIMON: Do you think there's a lot of history that can be rewritten or at least reimagined through the eyes of people who - if I might put it this way - had to live in the shadows, who were overlooked and discounted?

ROSENBERG: I think we all know that what gets archived in the official archives and what falls out is not a neutral operation. And so I guess my answer to you is, yes, necessarily so, and yes.

SIMON: Jody Rosenberg's novel, "Confessions Of The Fox," out Tuesday. Thanks so much for being with us.

ROSENBERG: Thanks so much, Scott.

1 confessions   

n.承认( confession的名词复数 )；自首；声明；（向神父的）忏悔

参考例句：

• It is strictly forbidden to obtain confessions and to give them credence. 严禁逼供信。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Neither trickery nor coercion is used to secure confessions. 既不诱供也不逼供。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

3 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

4 certify   

vt.证明，证实；发证书(或执照)给

参考例句：

• I can certify to his good character.我可以证明他品德好。
• This swimming certificate is to certify that I can swim one hundred meters.这张游泳证是用以证明我可以游100米远。

5 conceal   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽

参考例句：

• He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方，他只好隐瞒身份。
• He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。

6 untold   

adj.数不清的，无数的

参考例句：

• She has done untold damage to our chances.她给我们的机遇造成了不可估量的损害。
• They suffered untold terrors in the dark and huddled together for comfort.他们遭受着黑暗中的难以言传的种种恐怖，因而只好挤在一堆互相壮胆。

7 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

8 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

9 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

10 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

11 speculative   

adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的

参考例句：

• Much of our information is speculative.我们的许多信息是带推测性的。
• The report is highly speculative and should be ignored.那个报道推测的成分很大，不应理会。

12 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

13 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

14 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

15 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

16 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

17 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

18 lured   

吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The child was lured into a car but managed to escape. 那小孩被诱骗上了车，但又设法逃掉了。
• Lured by the lust of gold,the pioneers pushed onward. 开拓者在黄金的诱惑下，继续奋力向前。

19 feminist   

adj.主张男女平等的，女权主义的

参考例句：

• She followed the feminist movement.她支持女权运动。
• From then on,feminist studies on literature boomed.从那时起，男女平等受教育的现象开始迅速兴起。

20 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

21 jointly   

ad.联合地，共同地

参考例句：

• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
• She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。

22 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

23 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。

24 embark   

vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机

参考例句：

• He is about to embark on a new business venture.他就要开始新的商业冒险活动。
• Many people embark for Europe at New York harbor.许多人在纽约港乘船去欧洲。

25 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

26 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。

27 pungent   

adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的

参考例句：

• The article is written in a pungent style.文章写得泼辣。
• Its pungent smell can choke terrorists and force them out of their hideouts.它的刺激性气味会令恐怖分子窒息，迫使他们从藏身地点逃脱出来。

28 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

29 resonances   

n.共鸣( resonance的名词复数 )；（声音） 洪亮；（文章、乐曲等） 激发联想的力量；（情感）同感

参考例句：

• This system can set up acoustical resonances. 这种系统能产生共鸣。 来自辞典例句
• New supershortlived particles are called resonances. 新超短寿命粒子叫做共振态粒子。 来自辞典例句