Too Much Lip by Melisa Lucashenko《多嘴多舌》


Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko

Melissa Lucashenko (born in 1967 ) is a leading contemporary Aboriginal novelist and essayist of Bundjalung and European heritage. Lucashenko's first novel Steam Pigs was published in 1997, which won the 1998 Dobbie Literary Award for Australian Women’s Fiction. Her recent novel Too Much Lip won the 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award and Queensland Premier’s Literary Award for a Work of State Significance. Lucashenko is also an accomplished essayist, winning 2013 Walkley Award for her Griffith Review essay “Sinking Below Sight: Down and Out in Brisbane and Logan”. Her second novel Killing Darcy has won 1998 Aurora Prize of the Royal Blind Society and nominated for 1998 Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel. Lucashenko has won 2013 Queensland Literary Awards: Deloitte Fiction Book Award and 2014 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing for Mullumbimby, longlist for International Dublin Literary Award for Mullumbimby in 2015 and Too Much Lip in 2020. Her novel Killing Darcy has been translated into Chinese and Too Much Lip is also being translated into Chinese by Professor Jing Han, Director of the Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture at the Western Sydney University.

Too Much Lip is a darkly hilarious comedy about ordinary Aboriginal people living in an Australian regional town in contemporary Australian society. It offers cultural and historical insights into intergenerational trauma and the roots in colonial violence and systemic racism. It is written in a fearless and unflinching but also warm and hilariously funny style. The protagonist Kerry Salters heads south to her hometown Durrongo country on a stolen Harley when she learns her grandfather Pop is dying. Kerry opens her old family’s wounds when she fights to stop the development of the beloved river and ancestral land of her family. The troubled past of her grandfather’s experience of colonial violence, abuse within Church-run institutions and systemic racism weaves in and out of the story, generating staggering surprises for readers.

Too Much Lip is based by Lucashenko’s lived experiences, she feels proud as a Goorie with a strong sense of community and Bundjalung Country. Lucashenko shows readers the restorative and redemptive function of Country, Aboriginal culture and belonging in this novel.

Publisher: University of Queensland Press

Number of Pages: 328pp

Publication date: July 2018

ISBN 97807002259968


You are invited to watch a short video of Melissa Lucashenko talking about her book.

梅丽莎与《多嘴多舌》简介

梅丽莎·卢克申科是澳大利亚当代文坛一位非常重要和有着极大影响的原住民作家。她1967年出生在澳大利亚昆士兰州,1990年毕业于格里菲斯大学公共政策专业。1997年开始发表小说,迄今为止发表了六部小说,作品屡屡获奖。第一部小说《格格不入》获得澳大利亚女小说家奖;第二部小说《杀死达1896223西》获得少年文学极光奖,这部小说的中文译本已在中国出版。2013 年梅丽莎的第五部小说《穆伦宾比》同时获得了维多利亚州长文学奖和昆州小说奖两项大奖。2019年梅丽莎的新作《多嘴多舌》获得了澳大利亚文学最高奖迈尔斯·富兰克林文学奖,成为澳大利亚文学史上第三位获得此殊誉的原住民作家。梅丽莎还是一位以犀利的笔触著称的杂文家,她2013在《格里菲斯评论》发表的文章《跌出视野:穷困潦倒于布里斯班和洛根》荣获年澳大利亚最高新闻报道沃克利奖。梅丽莎的所有作品都围绕原住民的历史与文化,以表现当代的原住民生活和人物为主题。作家 个人网站 (opens in a new window)。

《多嘴多舌》描写了居住在澳大利亚边远小镇德蓉沟镇上普通原住民索尔特一家的故事。索尔特家族像其他原住民家庭一样经历了殖民暴力、教会管理机构的虐待和种族主义歧视,小说揭示了数代原住民所经历的代际创伤以及创伤背后复杂的历史和文化因素。梅丽莎以鲜活、风趣的语言和犀利又带有黑色幽默的笔触生动地描绘了原住民在当代澳大利亚社会中的生活状态,以及原住民文化在传统与现实中激烈碰撞的画面。

主人公凯瑞·索尔特得知爷爷即将离世,便骑上偷来的哈雷摩托车向南方家乡驶去。她发现索尔特家族在河边祖传的土地将会被推平来建造监狱。为了奋力阻止索尔特家族珍爱的河流和土地被开发,凯瑞经历的种种事件揭开了家族的历史伤疤和痛苦秘密。与此同时,她意外地发现当地名叫史蒂夫的帅气白人男子爱上了自己,他对凯瑞的爱慕让事情变得愈加复杂。

这部小说是作者梅丽莎基于自己个人生活经历所创作,她本人对于她所属的原住民社区有强烈的认同感,为自己是古里部落(Goorie)感到自豪。作者向读者展示了原住民家族的代际传承、身份认同以及他们如何在当代澳大利亚社会寻求归属感。

欲购买中文版《多嘴多舌》,可在中国的当当,淘宝等多个网站订购


《多嘴多舌》译后记 (opens in a new window)


Interview of Melissa Lucashenko, 2019 Miles Franklin Award Winner

by IAC Director Professor Jing Han

Download the English transcript (opens in a new window) of the interview.

点击下载采访稿中文版 (opens in a new window)


Professor Jing Han talks about Melissa Lucashenko and Too Much Lip to Chinese speaking audiences. The video is in Mandarin.


Interview of Prof Jing Han on SBS Radio Mandarin Program on her translation of Too Much Lip: 《多嘴多舌》:展现原住民的真实人生 : https://www.sbs.com.au/chinese/mandarin/zh-hans/audio/too-much-lip-has-been-translated-into-chinese

The Australian Embassy in Beijing has officially launched the Chinese translation 《多嘴多舌》 of Too Much Lip. The following are a series of posts from the Australian Embassy.

Official launch of the Chinese translation of Too Much Lip with Melissa's video.https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/kDns3ebbA_R3c3o9vR-80Q

Reading of the English version of Too Much Lip by the Australian Ambassador Graham Fletcher:https://m.weibo.cn/status/4761386637595136?sourceType=weixin&from=10BC195010&wm=20003_0002&featurecode=newtitle

Reading of the Chinese translation of Too Much Lip by the award winning Chinese writer Xu Zechenghttps://m.weibo.cn/status/4761394333879677?sourceType=weixin&from=10BC195010&wm=20003_0002&featurecode=newtitle

Prof. Jing Han’s introduction of Too Much Lip to Chinese readers:https://m.weibo.cn/status/4761099943280646?sourceType=weixin&from=10BC195010&wm=20003_0002&featurecode=newtitle

The transcript of an interview of Melissa Lucashenko by the writer Bai Lin:https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/zTztUTN7zjIjiMOEtIvJcw