时代周刊:假如希拉里没有嫁给克林顿(2)（在线收听）

Then on the eve of the 2016 election, Sittenfeld released a short story, "The Nominee,"

2016年大选前夕，西滕菲尔德又发表了一部短篇小说《候选人》，

told from the perspective of Hillary Clinton as she's interviewed by a combative journalist.

小说从希拉里·克林顿的视角讲述了她被一名好事记者采访的故事。

But Rodham, her seventh book, gleefully abandons biographical analysis for thought experimentation.

然而，她的第七部作品《罗德姆》却毅然抛弃了传记分析的写法，走向了思维实验。

Unlike American Wife, which delved into traumas the real Bush experienced early in her life to explain her psychology,

不同于《美国夫人》——该作品为了梳理现实生活中的布什（夫人）的心理活动，对她早期经历的各种创伤进行了深入的探究——

Rodham introduces a Hillary almost fully formed, at law school.

《罗德姆》介绍的则是一个在法学院就读时期就已完全定型的希拉里。

Sittenfeld does not detail the childhood moments that might have shaped her politics, her religiosity or her ego.

西滕菲尔德没有详细挖掘童年可能对希拉里的政治路线、宗教信仰及其自我意识的影响。

The reader must divine the origins of her ambition from her pillow talk with Bill.

读者必须从她与比尔的枕边私语中猜测希拉里宏伟抱负的根源。

Certain early passages read like cringe-inducing fan fiction:

《罗德姆》开篇的个别段落读起来就像煽情的同人小说：

it would be one thing to encounter veiled approximations of Bill and Hillary getting hot and heavy in law school.

含蓄地模拟比尔和希拉里在法学院陷入热恋的情节是一码事。

It is quite another to read sex scenes that invoke the real names of one of America's most prominent couples.

描写性爱场面时引用美国最著名的夫妇的名字就要另当别论了。

Sittenfeld even goes so far as to imply that Bill is a sex addict, crumpled under the weight of an unstoppable affliction.

西滕菲尔德甚至（在《罗德姆》中）暗示比尔有性瘾，深受难以抑制的性欲的折磨。

(No doubt the publisher has a great legal team.)

(毫无疑问，出版商肯定拥有一支非常强大的律师团队。)

While these carnal episodes will certainly serve to scandalize book clubs, they also are meant to solve this mystery:

尽管这些风流事件势必震惊各大读书俱乐部，作者设置这些情节也是为了解开一个谜团：

Why would a woman with such promise stay with a man torpedoing toward scandal?

希拉里这么一个前途无限光明的女人，为什么会选择跟一个丑闻满天飞的人在一起？

Sittenfeld blends reported facts with imagined details.

为此，西滕菲尔德采用了事实报道与细节发挥合二为一的写作手法。

Fictional Hillary, she asserts in Rodham, was often spurned by romantic interests for being too intellectual or too assertive,

她在《罗德姆》中写道，这位虚构的希拉里经常会因为过于聪明或过于自信无缘浪漫，

and she felt flattered by charismatic Bill's attentions.

迷人的比尔的目光则会令她感受受宠若惊。

That's a theory likely born from comments real-life Hillary has made over the years about her husband being "more attractive" than she is.

现实生活中的希拉里就经常说丈夫比自己“更有魅力”，西滕菲尔德的假设依据可能就来源于此。

As journalist Amy Chozick observed in her book Chasing Hillary,

正如记者艾米·乔齐克在其作品《追踪希拉里》中所言，

Clinton's assessment of how her looks compare with those of her husband "isn't really true."

克林顿比较自己与丈夫的相貌的评定“并不真实”。

But, Chozick added, it "always told me a lot about Hillary that she thought it was."

不过，乔齐克也说，她的评定“总是能传达出很多有关希拉里的信息。”

Yet flirtation and flattery do not a power couple make.

然而，光打情骂俏和阿谀之词还不能造就一对超能夫妇。

In Rodham, as in real life, these two share an intense intellectual connection.

和现实生活一样，在《罗德姆》一书中，希拉里和比尔二人也擦出了大量的智慧火花。

But it's that very intellect that Sittenfeld argues would eventually drive Hillary away from Bill.

不过，在西滕菲尔德看来，正是这些火花让希拉里最终离开了比尔。