爱丽丝·门罗：从家庭主妇到诺贝尔文学奖得主

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.

梅丽莎·布洛克（主持人）：节目接近尾声的时候，我们要祝贺第110位诺贝尔文学奖得主——爱丽丝·门罗，她是获此殊荣的第13位女性。加拿大作家爱丽丝·门罗被瑞典学院誉为“当代短篇小说大师”。在门罗的职业生涯中，她共创作了14部短篇小说集和一部长篇小说。门罗少女时代即在西安大略省的乡村地区开始写小说，她成长于严厉的苏格兰长老会的家庭。

尼达·乌拉比（撰稿人）：爱丽丝·门罗的很多作品都是自传体小说，比如其中有部短篇小说以一个小女孩的姨妈给她讲述一些恐怖消息为开篇。

（CBC广播电台的录音档案）

爱丽丝·门罗：（朗读）你妈妈得了轻微中风，她说没有，但我看到她有很多中风的病征。她得了一次轻微的，还会得下一次，下下一次……有一天她就会得一次大中风。

乌拉比：那是爱丽丝·门罗1978年在加拿大广播公司（以下简称CBC）朗读自己的小说——《渥太华谷》。故事中的姨妈接下来安慰小女孩，如果你愿意这样认为，那就是她自己的故事。

（CBC广播电台的录音档案）

门罗：（朗读）我10岁的时候妈妈得了病，我15岁时她就去世了。在那段时间里，我跟她一起的日子是多么难熬。她全身浮肿，到处都水肿。他们来过一次，从她身体里抽出满满一桶，抽出满满一桶液体。

乌拉比：爱丽丝·门罗不喜欢别人评价她的小说阴郁。1996年她告诉费城公共电台的“新鲜空气”栏目说，就算在疾病和背叛中，她也能发现一系列的情感。（采访录音档案）

门罗：凡是让我惊奇、让我从不同角度看

事物、给我特殊感觉的任何事物都使我感到很愉快。

维森·蔡：拜读她的作品让我感到震惊。乌拉比：这是加拿大小说家维森·蔡（音译）。

蔡：因为我认为我在开始阅读一部使人心情平复的畅销小说，接着我发现从背景那里升起一阵暴风雨般的情感。

乌拉比：爱丽丝·门罗37岁时发表了第一部短篇小说集，她是个大学辍学生，只能在孩子小睡的时候挤出时间写作。她60多岁的时候——她今年82岁——成为了世界上最著名的短篇小说家。但是作为那个年代并且只有普通背景的女人，对于花时间工作这件事她感到矛盾。

门罗：我没有感觉到这些都是我应得的，迄今为止我仍然很难相信我应该拥有那些时间（去写作）。如果有个朋友打电话来只是为了闲聊，或者是关于我作为家庭主妇能做得更好的所有事情，而我一直被训练成那样的人，（那样的话题）会让我觉得有罪恶感。

乌拉比：罪恶感和其他潜藏的情感通过一部电影慢慢升腾起来，这部电影名叫《远离她》，在2006年上映，是根据门罗其中一部短篇小说改编。该片由朱莉·克里斯蒂领衔主演，讲述一个患老年痴呆症的老妇人住在疗养院里。当与她相依相守多年的丈夫来探望她的时候，她没认出他，以为他是新来的病人。

（《远离她》电影原声片段）

朱莉·克里斯蒂：（饰演菲奥娜·安德森）如果你有礼貌地问那个一脸严肃的女士，她会给你沏一杯茶的。

高登·平森特：（饰演格兰特·安德森）我没关系。

克里斯蒂：（饰演菲奥娜·安德森）那我不陪你了。你自便吧。你一定觉得一切都很奇怪，但是你会惊讶于自己那么快就适应了。

乌拉比：接着她把丈夫介绍给自己在疗养院里的新男朋友。该影片由莎拉·波莉执导和改编，她告诉“新鲜空气”栏目她被门罗对无条件的爱的探究深深吸引。（采访录音片段）

莎拉·波莉：影片的男主人公并非一直都是个忠贞不渝的丈夫，你知道，他过去曾经犯过错，有过不忠，让彼此受伤。就在这种奇怪的、几乎诗意般的惩罚中，他眼睁睁看着妻子逐渐遗忘他，并且似乎爱上了另一名病友。

乌拉比：爱丽丝·门罗在表达复杂情感方面相当驾轻就熟，然而，当CBC采访她，问她获得诺贝尔文学奖意味着什么的时候，她出现了少有的一时语塞。（采访录音片段）

门罗：似乎不太可能，我难以言表，不知道说什么好。

乌拉比：门罗说希望她的获奖能够提高人们对短篇小说的重视。就在几个月前，爱丽丝·门罗宣布了她退休封笔的计划。现在多亏诺贝尔奖，她说她会重新考虑。