英美短篇小-说Unit-23-Tall-Tales-from-the-Mekong-Delta.ppt

,单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,*,单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,*,单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,*,单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,*,单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,*,单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,*,单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,*,单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,*,单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,*,单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,*,单击此处编辑母版标题样式,单击此处编辑母版文本样式,第二级,第三级,第四级,第五级,*,*,Unit 23,Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta,_,Kate Braverman,Kate Braverman,(born 1950 Philadelphia)is an American novelist,short story writer,and poet.She was raised in Los Angeles,which is the focus for much of her writing.,Kate Braverman is a poet and experimental writer of a singular and ruthless breed.She is author of four books of poetry,the novels:,Lithium for Medea,Palm Latitudes,Wonders of the West,and,The Incantation of Frida K,.Her Graywolf Prize for Creative Non-Fiction award winning memoir,Frantic Transmissions to and from Los Angeles:An Accidental Memoir,was published in Feb.2006.,Life,Awards,Works,Author Interview,Awards,She has won three,Best American Short Stories awards,an O.Henry Award,Carver Short Story Award,as well as the,Economist Prize,and,an Isherwood Fellowship,.,She is also the first recipient of,Graywolf Press Creative Nonfiction Awar,d for,Frantic Transmissions to and from Los Angeles:An Accidental Memoir,published February 2006.,Kates short-story,Mrs.Jordans Summer Vacation,won Editors Choice Raymond Carver Award.She received a Pushcart Prize for her short story,Cocktail Hour.,Other awards include the,2005 Mississippi Review Prize,a Christopher Isherwood Foundation Fellowship for lifetime recognition of achievement.,Most Recently Kate has won,the Margie J.Wilson Poetry Prize,from Margie Review.,Kate has also received a Recongition Award from the California Legislature Assembly,and a San Francisco Public Library Honoree.,Her certificate reads:,For your success as an influential novelist,short story writer,and poet,and for your literary acheivements that have garnered great acclaim,numerous awards and a Pushcart Prize,thereby making California a better place to live,.,Poetry,Lullaby for sinners,(1981).,Postcard from August(,1990).,Memoir,Frantic Transmissions to and from Los Angeles:An Accidental Memoir(,2006).,Author Interview,Looking back was there something in particular that helped you to decide to become a writer?,Growing up as a marginalized girl child of the secret dirty city of Los Angeles,as slippage deep within a colossus of yellow hibiscus,in a region that didnt exist in literature,I was,in complex ways,as described in my new“Frantic Transmissions to and from Los Angeles:An Accidental Memoir”alienated and only comfortable alone and writing.I knew words were sacred and books revered.I was writing at college workshops when I was 13.I never wasnt a writer.,What inspires you?,I work as many painters do,landscapes,portraits,collages,still lifes.I also work on multiple aspects of a long project or sequences of shorter pieces,so there is always an area Im working on.I learned this living with a painter,something always on the walls drying or not finished or fully realized,some reason why a brush was always required.Inspiration and motivation are entirely different issues.,Squandering the Blue,Below,the whales are passing south,swelling the ocean with intelligence.,Kate Braverman,There are many such surprising images in this collection.Her stories are autobiographical;she does not seem to know how to write any other way.Most deal with,women on the verge of a nervous breakdown,who are fighting a losing battle against chemical dependency of one kind or another.,Lenny,A short,fat,pale man with bad teeth.He invites the woman for coffee,inquires about her life,and tells her that he will show her the other side and give her the ride of her life.,He is the rebel,the outlaw,who offers her a glimpse of the forbidden,the dangerous,and the deadly.He knows exotic places such as Vietnam,Colombia,and Thailand;has experienced war and adventure;has been in prison and smuggled drugs;and has access to luxurious homes,cars,and diamonds.,Theme,Lenny proves to be no better than the alcohol that once removed her from the painful reality of her life,however,and after she has a farewell drink with him,there is every indication that she will return once again to the bottle for her fantasies,.The color blue,used throughout the story,has become an infected blue at the end,a kind of contagion that fills up the protagonist.,Her,dreams of a richer,fuller life,depart with Lenny,and the emptiness within her is still there.He has become just a tall tale to tell her friends,like his own tall tales of the Mekong Delta,and although she may have gotten a glimpse of the other side,she knows she will never reach it,.The China blue sky,of possibility will always be inside her,never letting her forget.,Analysis,Kate Braverman wrote“,Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta,”as a series of dramatized encounters between the protagonist and Lenny,each involving them more deeply in their relationship with each other.After the initial meeting in the parking lot,there are encounters in the meeting room of the community center,in the basement of a church,in a public park,and in a Bel Air mansion.,The more open settings,the park,the mansions swimming poolare,appropriate for the fantasies of the protagonist,who envisions skies,rivers,sunsets,and flowers.The dramatic encounters also point up the differences between the woman and Lenny,.,Braverman places,the final scene,on Christmas Eve.Although there are other religious references in the story,such as an AA meeting that takes place in the basement of a church,the final encounter between the protagonist and Lenny suggests the Christian virtues that are lacking between them:love,charity,and selflessness.,Lennys departure takes place on an evening of tall tales about Santa Claus and flying reindeer,an appropriate setting for his final appearance in the womans life and for the tall tales he leaves behind.,Questions,1 Talk bout the complicated relationship between Lenny and the woman.,2 Do you like the style of Kate Bravermans language?Can you image the“the china blue sky”?,3 Whats the meaning of the meets between them?,