愛麗絲·門羅：從家庭主婦到諾貝爾文學獎得主

By Neda Ulaby

Melissa Block （Host）： And finally this hour， we celebrate the 110th winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature， Alice Munro. She is the 13th woman to win the award. The Canadian writer was 1）hailed by the Swedish academy as a master of the contemporary short story. Over her career， Munro has written 14 story collections and one novel. Munro began writing as a child in rural Western Ontario， raised in a family of tough Scottish 2）Presbyterians.

Neda Ulaby （Byline）： So much of Alice Munros work is 3）autobiographical， like the short story that begins when a little girl is given some terrible news by her aunt.（Soundbite of Archived CBC Broadcast）

Alice Munro： （Reading） Your mother has had a little stroke. She says not， but Ive seen too many like her. Shes had a little one and she might have another little one and another and another. And someday she might have the big one.

Ulaby： Thats Alice Munro reading her story “The Ottawa Valley” on the CBC—the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation—in 1978. The aunt in the story then proceeds to comfort the little girl， if thats what you want to call it， with a story of her own.

（Soundbite of Archived CBC Broadcast）

Munro： （Reading） My mother took sick when I was only 10. She died when I was 15. In between， what a time I had with her. She was all swollen up. What she had was 4）dropsy. They came one time and took it out of her by the 5）pailful. Took what out. Fluid.

Ulaby： Alice Munro hates it when her stories are described as 6）bleak. She told WHYYs “Fresh Air” in 1996 that she finds a range of emotions even in sicknesses or betrayals.（Soundbite of Archived Interview）

Munro： Anything that surprises me， that makes me see anything differently， anything that gives me a gift is 7）entertaining.

Wayson Choy： She startles me when I read her.

Ulaby： Thats fellow Canadian and novelist Wayson Choy.

Choy： Because I think Im settling in for a quiet story that will be well told， and then Im realizing that theres a storm of emotion rising in the background.

Ulaby： Alice Munros first short story was published when she was 37. She was a college dropout squeezing in writing time around her childrens 8）naps. By the time she was in her 60s—and shes now 82—shed become one of the most celebrated short story writers in the world. But as a woman of her generation and modest background， she felt conflicted about taking time to work.

Munro： There tends not to be the feeling that this is what you deserve. I still find it hard to think that I deserve that time to this day. I can be made to feel guilty if a friend phones just to chat， also just about all the things that I could be doing to be a better 9）homemaker as I was trained to be.

Ulaby： Guilt and other submerged feelings 10）simmer through a movie based on one of Munros short stories.“Away from Her” came out in 2006. It starred Julie Christie as a woman in a home for people with 11）Alzheimers. When her husband of many years comes to visit， she doesnt recognize him. She thinks hes a new patient.

（Soundbite of Movie， “Away from Her”）

Julie Christie： （as Fiona Anderson） If you ask that grimlooking lady over there nicely， shell get you a cup of tea. Gordon Pinsent： （as Grant Anderson） Im fine.

Christie： （as Fiona Anderson） I can leave you then？ You can entertain yourself？ Must all seem strange to you. But youll be surprised how soon you get used to it.

Ulaby： Then she introduces her husband to her new 12）nursing home boyfriend. The film was directed and written by Sarah Polley. She told “Fresh Air” she was drawn to Munros exploration of unconditional love.

（Soundbite of Interview）

Sarah Polley： He has not always been a saintly husband that， you know， there have been wounds that hes 13）perpetrated in the past and affairs that hes had. And that theres this strange， almost poetic justice that he perceives in her forgetting him and seemingly falling in love with another man in front of his eyes.

Ulaby： Alice Munro， so 14）adroit in expressing complex emotions， was at a rare loss for words when a CBC interviewer asked her what it meant to win the Nobel Prize in literature.

（Soundbite of Interview）

Munro： It just seems impossible. I cant describe it. Its more than I can say.

Ulaby： Munro said she hopes her win will increase respect for short stories. Only a few months ago， Alice Munro announced plans to retire. Now thanks to the Nobel， she says she just might reconsider.

梅麗莎·布洛克（主持人）：節目接近尾聲的時候，我們要祝賀第110位諾貝爾文學獎得主——愛麗絲·門羅，她是獲此殊榮的第13位女性。加拿大作家愛麗絲·門羅被瑞典學院譽為“當代短篇小說大師”。在門羅的職業生涯中，她共創作了14部短篇小說集和一部長篇小說。門羅少女時代即在西安大略省的鄉村地區開始寫小說，她成長于嚴厲的蘇格蘭長老會的家庭。

尼達·烏拉比（撰稿人）：愛麗絲·門羅的很多作品都是自傳體小說，比如其中有部短篇小說以一個小女孩的姨媽給她講述一些恐怖消息為開篇。

（CBC廣播電臺的錄音檔案）

愛麗絲·門羅：（朗讀）你媽媽得了輕微中風，她說沒有，但我看到她有很多中風的病征。她得了一次輕微的，還會得下一次，下下一次……有一天她就會得一次大中風。

烏拉比：那是愛麗絲·門羅1978年在加拿大廣播公司（以下簡稱CBC）朗讀自己的小說——《渥太華谷》。故事中的姨媽接下來安慰小女孩，如果你愿意這樣認為，那就是她自己的故事。

（CBC廣播電臺的錄音檔案）

門羅：（朗讀）我10歲的時候媽媽得了病，我15歲時她就去世了。在那段時間里，我跟她一起的日子是多么難熬。她全身浮腫，到處都水腫。他們來過一次，從她身體里抽出滿滿一桶，抽出滿滿一桶液體。

烏拉比：愛麗絲·門羅不喜歡別人評價她的小說陰郁。1996年她告訴費城公共電臺的“新鮮空氣”欄目說，就算在疾病和背叛中，她也能發現一系列的情感。（采訪錄音檔案）

門羅：凡是讓我驚奇、讓我從不同角度看

事物、給我特殊感覺的任何事物都使我感到很愉快。

維森·蔡：拜讀她的作品讓我感到震驚。烏拉比：這是加拿大小說家維森·蔡（音譯）。

蔡：因為我認為我在開始閱讀一部使人心情平復的暢銷小說，接著我發現從背景那里升起一陣暴風雨般的情感。

烏拉比：愛麗絲·門羅37歲時發表了第一部短篇小說集，她是個大學輟學生，只能在孩子小睡的時候擠出時間寫作。她60多歲的時候——她今年82歲——成為了世界上最著名的短篇小說家。但是作為那個年代并且只有普通背景的女人，對于花時間工作這件事她感到矛盾。

門羅：我沒有感覺到這些都是我應得的，迄今為止我仍然很難相信我應該擁有那些時間（去寫作）。如果有個朋友打電話來只是為了閑聊，或者是關于我作為家庭主婦能做得更好的所有事情，而我一直被訓練成那樣的人，（那樣的話題）會讓我覺得有罪惡感。

烏拉比：罪惡感和其他潛藏的情感通過一部電影慢慢升騰起來，這部電影名叫《遠離她》，在2006年上映，是根據門羅其中一部短篇小說改編。該片由朱莉·克里斯蒂領銜主演，講述一個患老年癡呆癥的老婦人住在療養院里。當與她相依相守多年的丈夫來探望她的時候，她沒認出他，以為他是新來的病人。

（《遠離她》電影原聲片段）

朱莉·克里斯蒂：（飾演菲奧娜·安德森）如果你有禮貌地問那個一臉嚴肅的女士，她會給你沏一杯茶的。

高登·平森特：（飾演格蘭特·安德森）我沒關系。

克里斯蒂：（飾演菲奧娜·安德森）那我不陪你了。你自便吧。你一定覺得一切都很奇怪，但是你會驚訝于自己那么快就適應了。

烏拉比：接著她把丈夫介紹給自己在療養院里的新男朋友。該影片由莎拉·波莉執導和改編，她告訴“新鮮空氣”欄目她被門羅對無條件的愛的探究深深吸引。（采訪錄音片段）

莎拉·波莉：影片的男主人公并非一直都是個忠貞不渝的丈夫，你知道，他過去曾經犯過錯，有過不忠，讓彼此受傷。就在這種奇怪的、幾乎詩意般的懲罰中，他眼睜睜看著妻子逐漸遺忘他，并且似乎愛上了另一名病友。

烏拉比：愛麗絲·門羅在表達復雜情感方面相當駕輕就熟，然而，當CBC采訪她，問她獲得諾貝爾文學獎意味著什么的時候，她出現了少有的一時語塞。（采訪錄音片段）

門羅：似乎不太可能，我難以言表，不知道說什么好。

烏拉比：門羅說希望她的獲獎能夠提高人們對短篇小說的重視。就在幾個月前，愛麗絲·門羅宣布了她退休封筆的計劃?，F在多虧諾貝爾獎，她說她會重新考慮。