谭恩美：意外的回忆录（2021）

“喜福会”。
And I got goose pimples when I saw those words.
当我看到这些文字时，我起了鸡皮疙瘩。
That’s my goose pimple test.
这简直是我的“鸡皮疙瘩”测试。
And I said, “Could we use that as a title?”
我说，“我们可以用它作为标题吗?”
And Amy said, “That’s just a club my parents have.
恩美说:“那只是我父母的俱乐部。
You know, they meet on Thursday nights.
他们每周四晚上见面。
They play Mahjong.”
他们打麻将。”
It’s like the Girl Scouts of America.
就像美国女童子军聚会一样。
I mean, it just sounded so prosaic, you know.
我是说，这听起来太平淡了。
It’s a stock planning club,you know?
这是个股票分♥析♥俱乐部，你知道吗?
– Yeah. – And I said, “Well, you know,
-是的。 -我说。“你要知道，
who doesn’t want joy, luck and who doesn’t wanna
谁不想高兴，交好运并成为
be a member of that club?”
这个俱乐部的成员？”
By the way, there’s now a restaurant in New York,
顺便说一下，现在纽约有一家餐馆，
which is a derivative,called the Soy Luck Club.
是它的衍生品，叫做“幸运黄豆俱乐部”。
One of the nights we were at Amy and Lou’s house
我们在恩美和卢家的一个晚上，
was the night there was a bidding war
是她的处♥女♥作的
for her first book.
竞价大战。
She would excuse herself from her table,
她会时而离开她的桌子，
and she talked to her agent,and she’d come back,
和她的经纪人谈，然后她再回来，
she goes, “Knopf just bid on my book.”
她接着说，“科诺普夫出版社刚刚出价投标了我的书。”
And then another phone call would come in and,
然后又有一个电♥话♥打来，
“Putnam just bid on my book.”
“普南特投资公♥司♥刚刚出价投标了我的书。”
Amy thought, “Well,I’ve got this contract.”
恩美想:“好吧，我就签了合同。”
“I get to write my book,and it will be published.”
“我要写我的书，它会出版的。”
“But in six months,it will be life back
“但六个月后，我们的生活就会
as we lived it before.”
恢复到以前的样子。”
And when it took off,did I expect it?
它起飞的时候，我预料到了吗?
No, I did not.
不，我没有。
The Joy Luck Club went right to number one
《喜福会》直接登上了畅销书排行榜的
on the bestseller list.
第一名。
When The Joy Luck Club hit, it really hit.
《喜福会》大卖♥♥的时候，真的很火。
It was a revolution.
这是一场革命。
The book was a finalist for the National Book Award
这本书入围了美国国家图书奖
and the National Book Critics Circle Award.
和美国国家书评圈奖。
It was the longest running number one book
它是《纽♥约♥时♥报♥》畅销书排行榜上排名第一
on the New York Times Best Seller list.
持续时间最长的书。
The Joy Luck Club was so massive when it came out.
《喜福会》刚发行的时候，规模很大。
I mean, everybody loved it.
我的意思是，每个人都喜欢它。
It was just a magical book to appear.
这只是一本神奇的书的问世。
There was nothing like it.
没有比这更好的了。
And now I see that I am not the only one with
现在我明白了，我不是唯一一个
the mother that says all of the stuff
母亲会说出那些
that sounds unbelievable.
令人难以置信的话的人。
It was hard to believe the success.
这一成功令人难以置信。
Everybody embraced the book.
每个人都喜欢这本书。
I have to tell her that she has
我必须告诉她，
accomplished a mission with me,
她和我一起完成了一项使命，
showing that women do have histories.
表明女性确实能创造历史。
I don’t experience that as if,
我从未有过这种
you know, like a political experience.
你懂的，像是从政般的体验。
That’s a deeply emotional experience
对我来说，这是一种非常感人的经历，
for me to feel like,you know,
让我觉得，
my history is part of the larger history also.
我的历史也是更大历史的一部分。
It was published in 1989.
这本书出版于1989年。
And even then,I said to myself,
即便如此，我对自己说，
this is not gonna last.
这不会持续太久。
I have to go back to the work that I had before
我必须回到我以前的工作中去谋生，
to make a living,this is for fun.
这只不过是，为了好玩。
And it took me from March until October
从3月到10月，我终于
to finally realize I could do this
意识到我可以
for the rest of my life…just write stories.
用我的余生，来做这件事…只写故事。
Tell me what you think your gift is
告诉我，你认为
that enables what you say to resonate with so many people.
你的天赋是什么，使你的作品，能引起这么多人的共鸣。
I think in part,it’s nothing unusual.
我认为在某种程度上，这没什么不寻常的。
It’s the fact that I’m a baby boomer.
我只是出生在战后婴儿潮。
I’m an American born in this country,
我是一个出生在这个国家的美国人，
and I’m a baby boomer,and I have feelings
我是战后婴儿潮一代的人，
that a lot of women my age have.
我有很多和我同龄的女性一样的感受。
And one of that is this fear of,
其中之一就是害怕，
what would I lose if I lost my mother?
如果我失去了母亲，我还会失去什么?
What do I lose by not knowing about the past?
不了解过去的经历，对我有什么损失呢?
“In me, they see their own daughters
“在我身上，他们看到的是，如同看到自己的女儿
just as ignorant,just as unmindful
一样无知，一样不了解
of all the truths and hopes they had brought to America.”
她们给美国带来的真理和希望。”
“They see daughters who grow impatient
“他们看到的是，女儿们
when their mothers talk in Chinese,
在妈妈用中文说话时，变得不耐烦，
who think they’re stupid when they explain things
在妈妈用蹩脚的英语解释事情时，
in fractured English.”
觉得她们很笨。”
“They see that joy and luck
“他们发现，快乐和幸运
did not mean the same to their daughters,
对自己的女儿，并不意味着同样的东西，
that to these closed American-born minds,
对这些土生土长的美国人来说，
joy luck is not a word.”
快乐和幸运根本不是一个词。”
“It does not exist.”
“或许根本就不存在。”
“They see daughters who would bear grandchildren
“他们看到，女儿生下的孙辈
born without any connecting hope
没有任何传承，没有把希望，
passed from generation to generation.”
一代一代传下去。”
I was a voracious reader from an early age,
我从小就是一个如饥似渴的读者，
and she was the first Asian-American author
她是我读过的第一个
I had read.
亚裔美国作家。
And she was the first person that was
她是第一个让我回想起
reflecting back to me part of a world I knew.
我所熟知的那个世界的人。
She showed me the glamorous Shanghai of the 30s.
她给我展现了，30年代迷人的上海。
She showed me all these back stories that I knew about
她给我展现了，所有我所知道的
and could relate to from my family’s story.
和我的家庭故事相关的背景故事。
And then the counterpoint of that
与之相对应的是
was to showcase the Asian-American experience,
展示亚裔美国人的经历，
the second generation of daughters
第二代女儿
who have to deal with these mothers who came from China.
不得不与来自中国的母亲打交道。
There were moments there that I could so relate to
作为一名移♥民♥，我在那里的一些时刻
as an immigrant.
很有共鸣。
“My mother saw danger in everything,
“我母亲在一切事物中都看到危险，
even in other Chinese people.”
甚至在其他中国人身上。”
“Where we lived and shopped,
“在我们生活和购物的地方，
everyone spoke Cantonese or English.”
每个人都说广东话或英语。”
“My mother was from Wuxi,near Shanghai,
“我妈妈是无锡人，离上海很近，
so she spoke Mandarin and a little bit of…”
所以她会说普通话和一点…”
Being bi-cultural is an asset for a writer.
具有双重文化背景对作家来说是一种财富。
It gives you curiosity.
它给你好奇心。
You want to ask questions.
你会想问一些问题。
You want to understand deeply.
你会想要深入理解它。
And in the answers,you get stories.
在答案中，你会得到故事。
That’s what Amy has been doing.
这就是恩美一直在做的。
She observes her mother,
她观察她的母亲，
and her aunts,and the culture,
她的阿姨，她的文化，
and at the same time,she totally belongs here.
与此同时，她完全融入了这里。
So it’s in the contrast,in the complexity
所以正是在对比中，在复杂性中，
that she finds her language and her inspiration.
她找到了自己的语言和灵感。
Not to do any disservice to the amazing
这里，无意对恩美之前那些
Asian-American writers that came before Amy,
出色的亚裔美国作家，造成任何伤害，
but I think this was the first book to really
但我认为，这是第一本真正跨界
cross over into becoming
成为主流大众市场
a mainstream mass market success.
成功的书。
It had such a huge impact on paving the way
它为其他有色人种作家讲述他们的故事
for other writers of color to tell their stories.
铺平了道路，并对他们产生了巨大的影响。
When I actually was about to be published,
当我的书快要出版的时候，
I gave my mother the book to read,
我把这本书给了我妈妈看，
and her remark was,”It was so easy to read.”
她的评价是:“它太容易读懂了。”
She, more than anyone,knew what was fiction
她比任何人都知道，这是一本小说，
and that it wasn’t some sort of autobiography,
而不是某人的自传，
but she also knew the emotions,and the situations,