cover of episode Percival Everett and the Reinvention of Mark Twain’s Jim

Percival Everett and the Reinvention of Mark Twain’s Jim

2024/3/26
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Percival Everett: 本小说并非源于对《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》的不满，而是试图创作一部托马斯·索亚无法完成的小说，即从吉姆的视角讲述他的故事。为了做到这一点，我反复阅读《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》，直到对原文感到厌倦，以此摆脱对原文的模仿，并真正掌握故事的素材。我笔下的吉姆并非一个简单的角色，而是一个有血有肉、富有智慧的父亲形象，他被迫在奴隶制度下生存，并不得不与两个白人男孩的恶作剧周旋。小说中，吉姆的内心世界得到了充分的展现，他的痛苦、无奈、以及对自由的渴望都跃然纸上。小说也展现了奴隶们在极端困境下如何用幽默感来维系生存，以及他们之间独特的沟通方式，以避免被压迫者理解。 Julian Lucas: 作为读者，我被埃弗雷特对吉姆形象的重塑所吸引。他赋予了吉姆更丰富的内心世界和更复杂的性格，这与托马斯·索亚笔下简单化的吉姆形象形成了鲜明对比。埃弗雷特的小说不仅是一部精彩的叙事作品，也促使我们重新审视美国文学中的经典作品，并思考其中隐藏的种族偏见和社会问题。 David Remnick: 埃弗雷特的小说《James》以及他改编的电影《美国小说》都引发了人们对美国社会种族问题的关注。埃弗雷特的作品以其独特的幽默感和对语言的精妙运用而闻名，他善于在看似轻松的叙事中揭示深刻的社会问题。他笔下的吉姆形象，以及他对《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》的重新解读，都为我们提供了理解美国历史和社会的新视角。

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The novel begins by reframing a scene from Twain's perspective, highlighting the power dynamics between Jim and the boys. Everett emphasizes the importance of understanding the text through repetition and immersing oneself in the narrative. He discusses the significance of language and how oppressed groups develop ways to communicate without their oppressors understanding.

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In a new novel, Percival Everett offers a radically different perspective on the classic story “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn).”  Everett tells the story of Jim, who is escaping slavery; he calls his book “James).”  “My Jim—he’s not simple,” Everett tells Julian Lucas). “The Jim that’s represented in Huck Finn is simple.”  Everett, whose 2001 novel “Erasure)” was adapted as the Oscar-winning film “American Fiction,” restores Jim’s inner life as a father surviving enslavement, and forced to play along with the pranks of two white boys.  But like other Black authors, including Toni Morrison and Ishmael Reed, Everett considers Twain’s original a central American text grappling with slavery.  “I imagine myself in a conversation with Twain doing this. And one of the things I think he and I would both agree on is that he doesn’t write Jim’s story because he’s not capable of writing Jim’s story—any more than I’m capable of writing Huck’s story.”