Reporter: Do you consider the book to be autobiographical?

 

Jesse: Well, I mean...isn't everything autobiographical? I mean, we all see the world through our own tiny keyhole, right? I mean, I always think of Thomas Wolfe. Have you ever seen that little one-page "Note to Reader"...in the front of Look Homeward, Angel? Anyway, he says that we are the sum of all the moments of our lives...and anybody who sits down to write will use the clay of their own life...that you can't avoid that. So when I look at my own life, I have to admit, right, that I...I've never been around a bunch of guns or violence, you know, not really. No political intrigue¹ or a helicopter crash, right? But my life, from my own point of view, has been full of drama, right? And so I thought, if I could write a book...that could capture² what it's like to really meet somebody...One of the most exciting things that's happened to me...is to meet somebody, make that connection. And if I could make that valuable, you know, to capture that, that would be the attempt, or...Did I answer your question?

 

Reporter: I'll try to be more specific. Was there ever a French young woman on a train you met...and spent an evening with?

 

Jesse: See, to me, that... I mean...that's not important, you know?

 

Reporter: So that's a yes?

 

Jesse: All right, since I'm in France and this is the last stop of my book tour, yes.

 

Reporter: Thank you.

 

Reporter: Mr. Wallace, the book ends on an ambiguous³ note. We don't know. Do you think they get back together in six months...like they promise each other?

 

Jesse: Like they promised? I think how you answer that, you know, is...It's a good test, right, if you're a romantic or a cynic. Right? I mean, you think they get back together, right? You don't, for sure. No. And you hope they do, but you're not sure. That's why you're asking the question.

 

Reporter: Do you think they get back together? I mean, did you in real life?

 

Jesse: Did I in real...? Look, in the words of my grandfather, okay: "To answer that would take the piss out of the whole thing. "

 

Assistant: We just have the time for one last question.

 

Reporter: What is your next book?

 

Jesse: I don't know, man. I don't know. I've been...I've been thinking about this...Well, I always kind of wanted to write a book...that all took place within the space of a pop song. Like three or four minutes long, the whole thing. The story, the idea, is that there's this guy, right...and he's totally depressed⁴. His great dream was to be a lover⁵, an adventurer, you know...riding motorcycles through South America. And instead he's sitting at a marble table eating lobster⁶. He's got a good job and a beautiful wife, right, but that...Everything that he needs. But that doesn't matter...because what he wants is to fight for meaning. You know? Happiness is in the doing, right? Not in the getting what you want. So he's sitting there, and just that second...his little 5-year-old daughter hops⁷ up on the table. And he knows that she should get down, because she could get hurt. But she's dancing to this pop song in a summer dress. And he looks down...and all of a sudden, he's 6. And his high-school sweetheart is dropping him off at home. And they just lost their virginity, and she loves him...and the same song is playing on the car radio. And she climbs up and starts dancing on the roof of the car. And now he's worried about her. And she's beautiful, with a facial expression just like his daughter's. In fact, maybe that's why he even likes her. You see, he knows he's not remembering this dance...he's there. He's there, in both moments, simultaneously⁸. And just for an instant, all his life is just folding in on itself. And it's obvious to him that time is a lie. That it's all happening all the time...and inside every moment is another moment...all happening simultaneously. Anyway, that's kind of the idea. Anyway.

 

Assistant: Our author has to be going to the airport soon...so thank you all very much for coming over this afternoon.

 

 

1. autobiographical: 自传的，自传体的

 

2. keyhole: 锁眼，钥匙孔。这句的意思是： 我们都是通过自己那小小的钥匙孔看外面的世界，对吧？

 

3. Note to Reader: 书前面的“致读者”

 

4. political intrigue: 政治阴谋

 

intrigue还可以用来表示激起……的好奇心(或兴趣)

 

Fairy-tales intrigue most children.（大多数孩子都十分喜爱神话故事。）

 

5. end on an ambiguous note: 结局留有悬念

 

6. cynic: 愤世嫉俗者，玩世不恭者，好挖苦人者

 

7. drop off: 让……下车

 

Please drop me off at the bank.（请让我在银行下车。）

 

8. facial expression: 面部表情

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