The novel re-visits the character of Robert Langdon, the Harvard University professor from Brown's first two books.

VOA: special.2009.10.09

It's what allowed you to speak so powerfully to people in your first novel, and you've always wanted to write an autobiography.

让你在第一本小说里,掷地有声地向人们说话,所以你想写自传。

耶鲁公开课 - 1945年后的美国小说课程节选

The first impulse to write this novel is described as a throb.

写这本小说的第一冲动就被描绘成悸动。

耶鲁公开课 - 1945年后的美国小说课程节选

But first,a report on a new mystery novel that is breaking sales records in adult fiction.

VOA: special.2009.10.09

And what does it mean to be an American in this novel? So, that's the question I'd like to take up today first. Coming from Lolita, the vision of America in On the Road looks quite different.

这对于小说里你是一个美国人又意味着什么？,这是我今天想让你们思考的第一个问题，《洛丽塔》里，描写的美国景象非常不同于《在路上》之中的景象。

耶鲁公开课 - 1945年后的美国小说课程节选

Now, why the Fat Lady? It's this mythical, incredibly humanly embodied-- whenever you see a fat lady in a novel, one of the first things you want to ask is: why does that person need to be excessively embodied?

现在，为什么是胖太太，这是个神话，人们呈现了，无论你什么时候看到一个胖太太,在小说里，你首先会想问：,为什么那个人需要被这样过多的描写呢？

耶鲁公开课 - 1945年后的美国小说课程节选