PBS高端访谈:美籍作家阮清越关于《同情者》的写作与记忆

As long as he can remember, author Viet Thanh Nguyen has been interested in how stories about his home country of Vietnam are told in America.

自打记事起，作家阮清越(Viet Thanh Nguyen)就对美国如何讲述他的原籍国越南的故事很感兴趣。

In his own works, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Sympathizer," he centers on the voices of refugees like himself.

在他自己的作品中，包括获得普利策奖的小说《同情者》，他关注的是像他一样的难民的声音。

And, tonight, he offers his Brief But Spectacular take on writing and memory.

今晚，他将在《简短而精彩》的栏目中讲述写作和记忆。

It's part of our ongoing¹ arts and culture series, Canvas.

这是我们正在进行的艺术和文化系列节目“画布”的一部分。

I think anybody who has been touched by a war never forgets it. And that's been true for me.

我认为任何经历过战争的人都不会忘记它。 对我来说就是这样。

I never learned anything about Vietnam, as far as I can remember, in school.

就我记忆所及，我在学校时对越南一无所知。

It just wasn't even a subject.

它甚至都不是一个话题。

I got most of my education through Hollywood and through the books that I was finding in the public library, because I was very curious about where we had come from and what that history was.

我大部分的教育都是通过好莱坞和我在公共图书馆找到的书籍获得的，因为我非常好奇我们来自哪里以及那里的历史是什么。

And, for the most part, that history was completely American-centered.

而且，在很大程度上，那段历史完全以美国为中心。

Sometimes, that was benevolent² exclusion³ of the Vietnamese.

有时，这是对越南人的善意排斥。

But, oftentimes, it was also deeply racist⁴ and sexist when it came to the depiction⁵ of Vietnamese people.

但是，通常情况下，当涉及到对越南人的描述时，带有深深的种族主义和性别歧视。

And that was -- that was shocking for me.

这让我很震惊。

And it played a big role in shaping my psyche⁶ and my determination to be a writer and a scholar who could do something different about that history.

这在塑造我的心理方面发挥了很大的作用，在让我决心成为一名作家和学者，从而对那段历史做出一些不同的改变方面也发挥了很大的作用。

I was 4 years old when Saigon fell, or was liberated⁷, depending on your point of view.

西贡沦陷的时候，或者说被解放的时候(这取决于你怎么看)，我才4岁。

So, of course, my memories of that time are really undependable.

当然，我对那段时间的记忆是不可靠的。

I vaguely⁸ remember soldiers riding on tanks.

我模糊地记得士兵们坐着坦克。

I sort of remember sailors on our boat shooting at another boat.

我记得我们船上的海员在向另一艘船射击。

We arrived in the United States in the summer of 1975.

1975年夏天，我们来到了美国。

And we were resettled in a refugee camp in Fort Indiantown Gap in Pennsylvania.

我们被安置在宾夕法尼亚州印地安顿堡的一个难民营。

That's where my memories really begin.

那是我记忆真正开始的地方。

And I remember those barracks and storing those feelings and those memories away to eventually write about them.

我还记得那些营房，我把那些感觉和记忆储存起来，最终写了下来。

And so the tension here, of course, is that everything eventually needs to be forgotten in some way for us to move on and survive.

所以这里的紧张形势，当然，是所有的事情最终都需要以某种方式被遗忘，以使我们继续前进、继续生存。

And with the war in Vietnam, we reached a point where those people, that generation is starting to fade away.

随着越南战争的爆发，我们到达了这样一个阶段，那一代人开始逐渐消失。

And that's obviously a great loss in one way, but it's also a great opportunity for other people to step in and to tell different stories, either stories about moving on or stories about that time that have the luxury of emotional distance.

在某种程度上，这显然是一个巨大的损失，但这也是一个很好的机会，让其他人介入，讲述不同的故事，要么是关于继续前进的故事，要么是关于那段拥有情感距离的奢侈时光的故事。

And I think that's where I'm at.

我想这就是我现在的处境。

I think that I have been lucky that "The Sympathizer" has been read by a number of people.

我觉得我很幸运，《同情者》能被很多人阅读。

It's inevitable⁹ that you're -- when you're talking about a war and the tragedy and trauma¹⁰, if you have anything meaningful to say, it'll probably be controversial, because people are still divided about it.

不可避免的是，当你谈论战争、悲剧和创伤时，如果你有什么有意义的东西要说，那很可能会引起争议，因为人们对此仍有分歧。

I have always thought of myself as a writer who works in conjunction with movements.

我一直认为自己是一个与运动密切相关的作家。

When I take on that label of being an Asian American writer, what I'm saying is, I'm a writer in relationship to Asian American communities and Asian American political and social movements.

当我被贴上亚裔美国作家的标签时，我想说的是，我是一个与亚裔美国人社区、亚裔美国人政治和社会运动有关的作家。

It was through writing that I could fight for my place in American society, but also in the global imagination as well.

通过写作，我可以为自己在美国社会的地位而奋斗，也可以为自己在全球想象中的地位而奋斗。

I'm Viet Thanh Nguyen, and this is my Brief But Spectacular take on writing and memory.

我是阮清越，这是我对写作和记忆的简短而精彩的介绍。

And you can watch more Brief But Spectacular videos at PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief.

你可以在PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief上观看更多简短而精彩的视频。

1 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

2 benevolent   

adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的

参考例句：

• His benevolent nature prevented him from refusing any beggar who accosted him.他乐善好施的本性使他不会拒绝走上前向他行乞的任何一个乞丐。
• He was a benevolent old man and he wouldn't hurt a fly.他是一个仁慈的老人，连只苍蝇都不愿伤害。

3 exclusion   

n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行

参考例句：

• Don't revise a few topics to the exclusion of all others.不要修改少数论题以致排除所有其他的。
• He plays golf to the exclusion of all other sports.他专打高尔夫球，其他运动一概不参加。

4 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

5 depiction   

n.描述

参考例句：

• Double rhythms, resounding through the lyric depiction and connecting with each other, indicate the thespian place of mankind and the cognition of the writer to this thespian place. 这双重旋律互为表里，表明了人类的某种悲剧性处境以及作家对这种悲剧性处境的感受和认识。
• A realistic depiction of scenes from everyday domestic life. 日常家居生活的写实画。

6 psyche   

n.精神；灵魂

参考例句：

• His exploration of the myth brings insight into the American psyche.他对这个神话的探讨揭示了美国人的心理。
• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche.她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。

7 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。

8 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

9 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

10 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。