美国国家公共电台 NPR A 'Biloxi' Misanthrope 'Can't Help Himself' — But His Pet Dog Can

A 'Biloxi' Misanthrope¹ 'Can't Help Himself' — But His Pet Dog Can 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The new novel "Biloxi" keeps a tight focus because the main character lives a tightly defined life. Louis McDonald Jr. is 63, recently retired², watches a lot of Fox News, doesn't have many friends. He's driven away a lot of the people who used to be close to him. His closest confidante is a dog that he meets at the beginning of the book named Layla.

The author of "Biloxi," Mary Miller³, is different from her main character in a lot of obvious ways - gender⁴, age - and so I asked her how she wrote this story from a point of view so different from her own.

MARY MILLER: So at the time, I was living on the Gulf⁵ Coast. And like Louis, I also felt like I really didn't have much a community there at the time, and it was just me and my dog. Louis and I had a lot of similarities, which is kind of hard to admit to myself.

(LAUGHTER)

SHAPIRO: He's unappealing in a lot of ways. Was there a reason you wanted readers to see the world through the eyes of somebody who was kind of gruff and unlikeable?

MILLER: Yeah, he's really unlikeable. And, you know, we all have these thoughts in our head. We meet someone and we think something, and, of course, you never would say that pessimistic thing that you're thinking, and Louis does, oftentimes. And he engages people in ways that they don't go well for him.

And so I think I got to kind of act out my basest...

(LAUGHTER)

MILLER: You know, I just got to...

SHAPIRO: Is there an example you can give us?

MILLER: Gosh, you know, I'm thinking of - he goes to the bank, and he's talking to this woman. And she looks at his ID and sees that it's his birthday, and she pulls out some good candy for him. And he goes on and on about how, you know, they make Kit⁶ Kats that are white now, and I like those better.

SHAPIRO: Right.

MILLER: You know, and just sort of this - like, you know, you just say, thank you. You know, I'm glad I didn't get the damn green sucker.

SHAPIRO: (Laughter).

MILLER: But, you know, Louis can't help himself. And so he creates little conflicts wherever he goes.

SHAPIRO: There's one moment in the book he thinks to himself, it was about time I had an enemy; it had been too long, which is a thing you don't say, but I think maybe everybody identifies with.

MILLER: Yeah. (Laughter) Yeah. It reminds me of - you know, I think it's kind of popular now. Everyone wants a nemesis⁷ or two.

SHAPIRO: I'm starting to convince myself that maybe I liked him more than I was willing to admit because he says things that you're just not supposed to say and thinks things you're not supposed to think.

MILLER: He does. And, you know, I think that's why just - he entertained me so much. I mean, I can just still pick up the book and crack up. Yeah, you're not supposed to say that about your own book, like, look how funny I am. But I just - I really found the humor in him.

SHAPIRO: So next to Louis, the other most important character in the story is a dog. And how did you think about the role that this animal, Layla, also known by another name, but we don't have to get into that...

MILLER: Yeah.

SHAPIRO: ...That this dog plays?

MILLER: I think initially⁸, Louis gets this dog and, you know, he needs to feed the dog. He needs to have a bed for the dog. He needs - the dog is dirty. So it gives him little tasks and things to do and errands to run.

But then also, he and the dog just really initially take to each other and become - you know, become a little team. But he's so desperate to, like, please this animal who has, you know, pleased him so much and really given him kind of a new purpose.

SHAPIRO: There is this broad phrase, Southern literature, that includes authors from William Faulkner to Zora Neale Hurston. And I've heard others describe this book as Southern literature. Do you identify with that phrase? What does it mean to you?

MILLER: Yeah. I mean, I think about this a lot, or I have to because every panel I'm on, you know, they'll stick me on a Southern literature panel...

SHAPIRO: (Laughter).

MILLER: ...And, like, me and...

SHAPIRO: Whether you like it or not.

MILLER: Yeah. And it's, like, around the same rotation⁹ - like, me and just these few other people. And we're like, here we are again, you know, Southern literature. You know, what are we going to say, because we don't really know what to say? You know, I'm Southern, and I've lived my whole life in the South, so I don't mind being labeled that.

But I think my main worry would just be, you know, someone in Wyoming or New Mexico - are they going to - you know, the first thing they put is going to be Southern literature. Is that going to turn off other readers?

SHAPIRO: I mean, you're kind of asking for it by calling the book "Biloxi."

MILLER: Well, true. True.

SHAPIRO: If you had called it "Grumpy Old Man With A Dog"...

MILLER: I know.

SHAPIRO: ...People might not put you on those panels...

MILLER: I know.

SHAPIRO: ...Discussing Southern literature

MILLER: Yeah. So I really asked for it this time.

SHAPIRO: (Laughter).

MILLER: You know, I wanted to call it "The Gulf," and my publisher was like, so that won the Pulitzer for us last year...

SHAPIRO: (Laughter).

MILLER: ...And so we don't need another "Gulf" right now. But anyway, I do like the specificity of this.

SHAPIRO: We hear so much these days about breaking bubbles and getting out of our echo chambers¹⁰. And I think, generally, fiction is a really good way to do that. And specifically, this book seems like a really tangible¹¹ example of after you've spent a couple hundred pages in this man's world, it's kind of hard to stereotype¹² and pigeonhole¹³ him.

MILLER: Yeah. I mean, I think most of what he's going through and sort of where he finds himself at this point in his life - I think everybody's experienced, like, oh, gosh, you know, I'm this age, and this is not where I expected to be or not where I hoped to be. And I think a lot of, you know, what he's experiencing is just something we've all experienced, and so we can identify him - with him on that level.

And the longer you spend with someone, the more you like them, maybe. I mean, don't we all feel that way sometimes?

SHAPIRO: Mary Miller, thanks so much for talking with us today.

MILLER: Thanks, Ari.

SHAPIRO: Her new novel is called "Biloxi."

1 misanthrope   

n.恨人类的人；厌世者

参考例句：

• While not a commercial success-a pattern largely unbroken until I'm Your Man-this lackadaisical triumph is an inspiration to the misanthrope in us all. 尽管并不是一个商业上的成功，这一模式直到《我是你的男人》才被打破。 这个漫不经心的胜利是对独来独往的我们的一个激励。
• If this all strikes you as fancy, handlebar moustache talk from an old misanthrope who doesn't get things like whatever the hell we're calling “conversations” this week, maybe you're on to something. 如果你觉得我所说的复杂，就像我们今周所说的一个守旧的不愿与他人来往的人在自言自语，那可能你准备做其他事。

2 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

3 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

4 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。

5 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

6 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

7 nemesis   

n.给以报应者，复仇者，难以对付的敌手

参考例句：

• Uncritical trust is my nemesis.盲目的相信一切害了我自己。
• Inward suffering is the worst of Nemesis.内心的痛苦是最厉害的惩罚。

8 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

9 rotation   

n.旋转；循环，轮流

参考例句：

• Crop rotation helps prevent soil erosion.农作物轮作有助于防止水土流失。
• The workers in this workshop do day and night shifts in weekly rotation.这个车间的工人上白班和上夜班每周轮换一次。

10 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

11 tangible   

adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的

参考例句：

• The policy has not yet brought any tangible benefits.这项政策还没有带来任何实质性的好处。
• There is no tangible proof.没有确凿的证据。

12 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

13 pigeonhole   

n.鸽舍出入口；v.把...归类

参考例句：

• The pigeonhole principle is an important principle in combinatorics.鸽巢原理是组合学中一个非常重要的原理。
• I don't want to be pigeonholed as a kids' presenter.我不想被归类为儿童节目主持人。