J.K.罗琳说:在我的新书中人们有性爱,但是没有人从中享受乐趣……

本周二,J.K. 罗琳(J. K. Rowling)在纽约在其粉丝们尖叫呐喊声中接受了采访。她畅谈了自己的畅销新作《临时空缺》(The Casual Vacancy),谈了《临时空缺》与另一部畅销小说,E.L. 詹姆斯(E. L. James)的《五十种灰》(Fifty Grades of Grey)的区别。以下是有关这次访谈的报道:

J.K. Rowling cheered by fans at New York event

NEW YORK — J.K. Rowling quipped Tuesday about the difference between The Casual Vacancy, her first post-Harry Potter novel for grown-ups, and another kind of adult best seller: E.L. James’ erotic Fifty Shades of Grey.

“The difference is that people have sex in my book, but no one enjoys it,” Rowling told 2,500 cheering fans at an event at a Manhattan theater.

Rowling also said:

— She dreaded writing several scenes in her new novel, about social and political divisions in a small English town, particularly a rape, but “it had to happen. It was there for a reason.”

— Her new novel “might be appropriate for the right 14- or 15-year-old, but not any younger than that.” But parents, she added, should discuss the reasons with their children that it’s inappropriate.

— Her biggest challenge in moving from young readers to adults wasn’t “about writing in a contemporary world, in a real world,” but getting “the structure” right of a novel without a central character.

Rowling’s conversation on stage with the novelist Ann Patchett (State of Wonder), who owns a bookstore in Nashville, was her first public event in the U.S. for her new novel.

It drew a screaming crowd that gave Rowling a standing ovation as she walked on stage, prompting Patchett to say, “This is like a Stones concert.”

Patchett, “as a writer and bookseller,” praised Rowling “for doing more for reading than anyone else in my lifetime and for single-handedly keeping an industry alive.”

“No, no, no,” Rowling replied. “That’s way too much responsibility.”

The two authors sat on a stage normally used by the New York City Ballet and often drew laughs, especially when Patchett mentioned the double meaning of “adult novel.”

Both Rowling and Patchett shared they hadn’t read Fifty Shades.

“Everyone tells me the writing is terrible,” Patchett said.

“But that’s porn,” Rowling shot back to laughter. “Have you ever read The Story of O?”

“I went to Catholic school,” Patchett confessed.

“You’d like it even more,” Rowling replied.

The Casual Vacancy, which landed at No. 1 on USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list and dropped to No. 4 last week, has gotten mixed reviews from critics, who have called it everything from dull to brilliant. But that wasn’t mentioned Tuesday.

When Rowling said she feared some readers may have missed the humor in The Casual Vacancy, Patchett said “it is a story not between evil and good, but between evil and funny.”

The crowd was predominantly female, mostly between 20 and 40, the generation that grew up on the Potter series.

Among them was Catherine Warren, 19, who had come all the way from the University of Georgia, where she’s a sophomore, to pay homage to the writer “who’s just so great.”

Warren remembered how her mother read to her the first two Potter novels “when I was in first or second grade, but then I finished them myself as the years went by.”

Warren said she’s 100 pages into The Casual Vacancy “and so far so good.” She said she’d loved to read “more about Harry Potter’s world” — which Rowling has said she won’t do — then added, “I understand what’s done is done.”

旅游后记之Manhattan,New York

第三站纽约曼哈顿:

话说我们5月23日下午搭乘双层大巴,经过四个多小时的行程(中途只在康尼狄格州的哈德福德停了一次),当晚到达了曼哈顿岛。还没下车,就能体会到纽约与此前到过的几个城市的不同:真不愧是大都市!

我们选择的酒店在曼哈顿河对岸,新泽西州色考克斯区的UnionCity。出行还是很方便的。(补充说明一下:我们这次出行为全程自助。设计好了行程之后,在网上预订了飞机和酒店;到达旅游地点之后的行动全部仰仗公共交通设施——地铁和公交,当然,步行是免不了的。只在布法罗一地使用过两次的士。)其实,我们本来打算住在皇后区的法拉盛华人旅馆的。怎奈新闻报道说皇后区是H1N1的重灾区。才又无奈地“另择良枝而栖”去也。

在纽约呆了三天时间。第一感觉当然就是“纽约真大啊”。三天时间也只转悠了纽约曼哈顿区的几个点而已。难怪有人说在纽约玩上一两个星期,时间也不算长。还有另一个感觉就是,和此前到过的其他城市相比,纽约的空气质量要差很多。

地方太大,时间很短——那就只好抓重点啦。所以我们第一天的重点是大都会博物馆。第二天的重点是自由女神像、世贸中心遗址、华尔街和帝国大厦。后来时间富裕,还在时代广场溜达了一会儿。这一天正好是Memorial Day(纪念日),是美国人民的公休日,哪儿哪儿的人都是乌泱乌泱的。第三天的重点是纽约的联合国总部,捎带着,还参观了纽约最大的车站——中央大车站(Grand Central Station)。

5月26日下午5时许,登上megabus的双层大巴(还是事先在网上订好的),一路无话,直奔WashingtonDC而去……


这是第42街上的夜景之一


这就是大都会博物馆的大门。里面真可谓琳琅满目。说实在的,你如果想细细地都看遍了,呆上三天也不算多。一天,也只能是大步流星马不停蹄地浏览一下而已。而且还是不能踏遍所有的展厅……东西真多啊!忍不住要对美帝国主义咬牙切齿一下:世界各地的那么多的好东西都被他们给鼓捣来了……


传说中的自由女神像。终于可以在她的脚下,绕着圈地近距离观瞻她、仰望她了……


这里是纽约的证卷交易市场


帝国大厦的照片不好拍摄。就弄一张摆放在其一楼入口处的铜板画充数吧。


一到晚上就更显热闹的时代广场


联合国总部的大楼我们在电视上总能看到。这里就看看飘扬的联合国的旗帜吧。


纽约最大的中央大车站。到里面去看,才真是别有洞天,能真正体会出大来呢。

好吧,在曼哈顿的所见还可以到这里这里这里,和这里。有关图片的客套话就不再说了。乐呵乐呵得了……